Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note.

Chapter 31

Return

"Let me guess," Noriko said as she plopped down on to the couch beside Reiji after the two got home. He had gotten there before her and was waiting patiently on the couch. "You want to know why L knows me?"

"And why you lied about it."

"Simple. That wasn't L, it was Light. Second, I didn't lie, I just omitted the part about me knowing him. I was only trying to protect him, and you."

"Why is your ex-fiance posing as L?"

"Don't know really," she answered, shrugging. "L must have asked him, or L was going to wait for one of the people mentioned in our little meetings to die, which Light must have disagreed with and then decided to act on his own."

"How involved with L were you Noriko?" Reiji asked.

"I dumped cake batter on him once," she said with a shrug, after getting a lifted brow in response, she continued, "Not much honestly. It wasn't exactly my choice to join the task force in the first place."

"And the reason why you did, the real one?"

"Because L suspected that Light was Kira."

"Does that have anything to do with why you left him?" He asked, seemingly unmoved by her admission.

"It's the other reason, aside from having caught him with Misa, who by the way was suspected of being the second Kira."

"Given that Light is working so closely to L, I would assume he's been cleared. Misa too, it would seem since I'm sure she's somehow working for L, especially since that friend of yours was managing her."

Noriko shook her head. "It's possible, but quite the opposite when it comes down to Light. L is very childish, he doesn't like to lose. That, combined with the fact he's supposedly never been wrong would be more than enough reason for him to keep Light close, no matter the circumstances. Light was arrested in June, on the first, I didn't lie when I said it was him I saw with Watari, it was just that he was cuffed and blindfolded too. After that I was out for a week and the Kira killings stopped for two weeks before starting up again."

"That would have made him seem responsible until the killings resumed, then suspicion would be placed elsewhere. But was he Kira?"

She didn't respond immediately, instead she looked out the window for a moment before sighing. "Yes."

"You know this for certain?" Reiji asked.

She nodded. "Yes. He is the original Kira, Misa is the second Kira. I'm the only one to know it, besides L, but I can't prove it, neither can L apparently, otherwise they would both be dead. As to who the current Kira is, I'm pretty sure I know that as well."

"My money's on Higuchi."

"So is mine," she agreed. "But what do we do now? We can't let any of the others know that L contacted you, or that I know him, I'll be killed, so will you, and I don't particularly like that idea."

"We do as L or whoever says for now, and just sit back and watch what happens."

"You're not angry with me, are you?" Noriko asked. "I know I technically lied, but I didn't have much choice. If anyone knew, I would have been in lots of trouble and it would have put L, you, and quite a few other good people in harm's way. I don't want to be the reason anyone else dies."

"I'm not angry with you, I understand perfectly. But why would you be the reason anyone else died?"

"Light, when I confronted him, he said the reason he became Kira was because of me. Or for me, I guess I should say. He said he was trying to create a better world, all for me, even though I didn't want it."

"It's not your fault, Noriko," he replied softly. "You're not to blame for any of his actions."

"I know, but still it doesn't make me feel all that great."

"I would imagine it wouldn't, but that's enough talk of Kira for tonight. Just be careful Noriko, I know you're protective, but don't do anything rash."

"I'll try, but no promises."

-October 21st-

A bad feeling began to nag at the back of Noriko's mind as she went through her usual work day. The day was almost over for her and she was finishing off the few things she had left to do so that she could go to dinner with Lisa. Reiji was going to be late at the office and she wasn't fond of being alone in his large house, it got lonely sometimes.

"Almost ready?" Lisa asked from her desk.

"Yeah, just let me finish typing this up and I'll be ready to go," she replied from her desk that was hidden behind an ornate black screen.

"Ok. Hey why don't I meet you at the restaurant. I'll put our names in so we shouldn't have to wait long once you get there."

"Sounds good to me, I should only be a few more minutes. I need Reiji to sign a few things, but they're not too important so I can wait until tomorrow."

"See ya there," Lisa chirped.

Noriko heard the office doors click shut and focused her attention back on the computer screen. She had become a very quick typer over the past several months and her small hands flew over the keyboard. Once done, she re-read what she had written to make sure there were no errors before printing it and sticking it into an envelope that she tossed in the outgoing mail box on Lisa's desk.

As she was putting her purse over her shoulder and slipping her heels back on, the doors to the office opened and she poked her head around the ornate divider to see Reiji walking in, a manila folder in his hands.

"Hey, I was just about to leave to meet Lisa," she told him, stepping towards him. "Did you need anything before I go?"

"No, it seems I'll be later than expected," he replied as he glanced at the folder in his hands. "Enjoy yourself, and don't wait up."

"And don't you work too hard," she teased before placing a hand on his arm and smiling. "I'll see you later."

He nodded at her and returned her smile before they both went their separate ways.

While Noriko and Lisa were at dinner, Reiji received a phone call, it seemed Coil had sent them some information on Misa Amane and there was to be a meeting as soon as possible. With Noriko gone, he attended alone, he would be able tell her about the contents of the meeting later.

Coil had learned that Misa had been suspected, and secretly questioned as the second Kira. All evidence pointed to the truth of this and it was decided that since there was a chance she may know L they would bring her in for questioning of their own. It was also decided that Coil would join them, it was his job to find L after all, not theirs.

Unfortunately, the next subject of discussion was Noriko. When Misa had been in the office the week before, Noriko's attack on the girl and the fact they seemed to be acquainted in some way was brought up. They wondered if Noriko had been aware of this, and if so why she hadn't spoken of it sooner. After some elaborate words from Reiji, who reminded them that Noriko was already working and living with him when Amane was arrested and had broken ties with the people she knew in the task force long before, there was no way Noriko could have known. Luckily for him, and much to Light's and Ryuzaki's appreciation, everyone easily accepted this after a little thought and debate over the dates.

"We never thought over that possibility. That they would link Noriko to Misa," Light said. "We need to be more careful or we may just cause a lot of trouble for her."

"Yes, it's a good thing Namikawa is a quick thinker, or we would be in a bit of trouble," Ryuzaki replied.

"Do you think we should call her?" Light asked.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea. We don't want them becoming suspicious of her now, we should wait until we have a more solid plan. She hasn't contacted us so-"

"She can contact us?" Light asked.

"Yes, when she left after your..misunderstanding, Watari gave her a number to call if she was ever in need of anything. She hasn't used that number, so we can assume she is fine and able to handle things on her own."

"But wouldn't it be better to have her working with us?" Matsuda inquired. "She's been taking part in those meetings, maybe she knows who Kira is and how they kill."

"Doubtful," Ryuzaki replied.

"Yeah, if she knew that then we can be sure she would have called Watari. She wouldn't be able to do anything on her own at that point," Light said.

"Light-kun is right, if Nori-san knew any of that, then it's likely that she would have informed us by now. More importantly is the fact that by participating in the meetings she is risking her life to try and gather information. We need to move carefully and keep anyone from suspecting her of being a spy or knowing more than she has told them. She'll call us when she's ready, if we need her before then then we will find a way to get in touch with her," Ryuzaki explained.

"Through Namikawa?" Light asked.

"No her cell phone would probably work better," Ryuzaki replied, munching on a piece of watermelon as Light stared at him angrily.

"You have her cell phone number?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Why didn't I know?"

"Why should you know? Nori-san doesn't wish to speak with you, and you would only cause her problems."

"Dammit Ryuzaki, you're impossible."

"Hmm, it's a step up from weird at least," he mumbled to himself.

"Getting that report just a few days after Misa shows up, it seems a little odd. Do you think Coil could be working with L?" Noriko asked Reiji while they sat in the living room, the television on in the background. The earlier meeting had just been explained to her in detail, including how she very nearly wound up being a victim of Kira.

"You would have a better idea than I would, but I think it's a possibility," he replied.

Noriko frowned. "I don't know though, I've never heard of Coil and I haven't had anything to do with anyone from the task force in months. I can see L using Misa since he arrested her as the second Kira, but why would he release her?"

"As you said, to use her. You said yourself L doesn't like to lose, but if he was certain as you are that Misa is the second Kira, even without evidence he would use her. What better way to keep on eye on her than to do that?"

"I guess so. It would also explain why Matsuda was managing her. He was just her babysitter," Noriko said.

"Most likely. If Coil is working for L though then we are in more trouble then we thought. We know he suspects Yotsuba and is watching our meetings, that was evident from the phone call last week," Reiji replied.

"Not necessarily. Hatori's death makes it obvious that everyone is being threatened to stay there, L knows that. All he's looking for now is Kira and how Kira kills. Once he gets that, he'll capture Kira and we'll all be fine."

"Well we know you'll be fine anyway," Reiji said. "You know L and it seems that your ex has plans to keep you safe."

"Yeah, but my ex is also the one who told you that he would make sure everyone at the meeting looked like victims. He may be many things, but he's not a liar, usually anyway," she replied with a shrug.

"Yes, I'm sure he'll be happy to keep me alive, it's not like I'm in anyway involved with the woman he's obsessed with," Reiji retorted with a laugh.

"I don't find that funny," Noriko replied dryly. "But I do guarantee you one thing."

"And what is that?" Reiji asked as he watched Noriko gracefully slide off the couch, her dark blue nightgown fluttering down to her knees.

She smiled a knowing smile as she turned towards the hallway to the bedrooms, she paused before entering the dim walkway and turned back. "I won't let you die."

Her words stunned him, she sounded confident, almost cocky when she had spoken. Noriko had changed a lot since he had first met her and this strange confidence she was exuding was oddly comforting.

Over the next several days Noriko and Reiji worked as they usually would. They both figured that sitting back and letting L find the Kira among them while letting the others believe they were completely devoted to Yotsuba was the best option available to them.

The meeting to determine whether or not Misa was the second Kira and if she knew L's identity with Coil at its head, hadn't gone as well as expected. Even though Noriko and Reiji hadn't taken a part in it, they had been given the details of it by Kida. It seemed Misa had been blindfolded during most of her questioning and L had only ever questioned her over a set of speakers, not in person.

What no one knew was that during a brief bathroom break the shinigami, Rem, who was attached to Higuchi, had approached Misa and touched her with a piece of the Death Note that was in Higuchi's possession. To protect Misa, Rem had done this so that she could tell Misa that she had been the second Kira, and Light the original. Rem also warned her to be wary of the one she stood behind when they returned to the meeting since she was unable to tell her who Kira was. She had also warned her to keep her distance from Noriko, telling her that she was aware that both her and Light had been Kira's and was planning on finding a way to prove this. When Misa had simply asked why she couldn't just write Noriko's name down, it had confused her to learn that the notebooks don't work on everyone. Rem had left the conversation at that and the two had returned to the meeting.

After discovering that Higuchi was Kira, Misa took it upon herself to find a way to get him to confess to what he was doing. Since she still lacked her memories of being the second Kira, but had been given useful information from Rem about the Death Notes, she figured she could come up with a scheme to get Higuchi's confession.

So the following day, Misa e-mailed Higuchi, accepting one of his many offers to take her out. During her film shoot she had managed to convince Moji, her new manager, to let her stop at a nearby hospital to use the bathroom. A friend had met her there and the two had swapped clothes, allowing Misa enough time to sneak past her manager and meet Higuchi at the nearby women's college.

Not long after getting in his car, Misa confessed to being the second Kira. At first Higuchi blew it off, but as soon as Misa made mention of looking up to Kira and that she had moved to Tokyo to find and marry Kira, his attitude changed. She had managed to have Rem kill someone in order to prove that she really was the second Kira. After that she managed to capture him on the recorder of her phone flat out saying he was Kira and promising to stop the killing of criminals for three days, as Misa had asked, to prove that he was really Kira.

She took the confession back to the task force headquarters and presented it to everyone happily. With a confession, but no idea how Kira killed, it was decided that they would draw him out and force him into a situation where he would have to show them how he killed. Of course this meant putting someone in a very dangerous spot if anything should go wrong with their plan.

-October 28th-

Noriko stared out the window to her left and bit at her lip as she flicked a pen around between her fingers. For several days she had had a strange feeling, she just couldn't figure out why. It wasn't threatening, but it was far from a friendly feeling. She sighed and stood up, no longer able to concentrate on her work.

"I'm going to go get some tea, I can't concentrate today, would you like anything Lisa?"

"No thank you."

After getting herself a glass of hot tea and going back to her desk, she spent the rest of the afternoon staring blankly out the window.

"Noriko!"

Lisa's voice brought her out of her trance like state and she blinked several times to moisten her now dry eyes as she turned to face the red head who was looking at her as if she lost her mind.

"Sorry, what Lisa?"

"I was asking if you wanted to go and get dinner tonight."

"She won't be able to I'm afraid," Reiji said from behind them as he walked out of his office.

"I won't?" She asked, confused.

"I'm actually done early for once and thought it would be nice to have dinner together, it's been awhile."

Lisa was grinning from ear to ear at the news, she turned to Noriko and winked. "Well, never mind then. Have fun!" She squeaked in a girly laugh before nearly skipping out of the office.

Noriko watched her go with a raised brow, even though she was aware of the relationship between them, because she tortured Noriko for details on everything, she was still ecstatic every time she learned they were going out.

"She must have been a cheerleader in high school, otherwise I don't see how she could be so happy all the time," Noriko commented with a shake of her head. "Anyways, dinner would be great, I haven't been able to focus all day, maybe food will help."

"It'll give you something to focus on at least."

"Hey there's nothing wrong with having a healthy appetite."

"You call your appetite healthy?"

She opened her mouth to respond before closing it, frowning and shrugging. "Ok maybe not, but that's not the point. The point is...Actually I have no idea, what was the point?"

"Get your things," Reiji told her with a laugh.

"Ah, right."

They took Reiji's car to dinner, but returned to get Noriko's on the way back home. they usually came in around the same time, but Reiji had a meeting early the following morning so Noriko would need her car to get to work, unless she wanted to be an hour early, which she didn't.

It was on the drive home that she received a call from Reiji, who was only a few cars ahead of her on the highway. She was a little confused, but answered.

"Hello?"

"Mido just called me, he wants to have a little meeting it seems."

"Ok, about what?"

"We'll see when we get there, although I have a guess."

"Kira?"

"Most likely, follow me, his house isn't far."

"Alright, see you then I guess."

She hung up her phone and started nibbling on her lip, which was beginning to get a bit sore from the abuse she had put it through that day. The feeling she had had all day and the last few days as well, was at the forefront of her mind again. She knew that without a doubt something was going to happen, what, or when, she didn't know, but she didn't think it was good.

When she pulled through Mido's gates behind Reiji and parked beside him on the long driveway in front of the English style house, the feeling only got worse. She looked up at Mido's house as she stepped out of her car ad her brows knitted together. She made her way up next to Reiji and looped her arm into his, he glanced at her oddly, but didn't say anything as they walked up to the front door that was already open with Mido waiting for them.

Releasing Reiji's arm so he could take off his blazer and she could sit down on the brown couch with him, Noriko looked from Mido to Shimura who was also there and back to Reiji.

"So what's with this meeting?" Reiji asked as he made himself comfortable on Mido's couch.

"Namikawa...Who do you think Kira is?" Shimura asked.

"It could be you or Mido, why ask that?" He replied casually.

"It's not me," Mido said. "And it's not Shimura, he called me complaining that he didn't want anything to do with the meetings and Kira's evil plans anymore."

"Well, it must not be Mido, or you'd be dead," Reiji pointed out.

"It's not you or Mido. Even I know that neither one of you need help to be successful, neither of you would do something as stupid as these meetings," Shimura replied, it was easy to see he was trying to be calm, but inside he was extremely nervous.

"And what if it were Noriko?" Reiji asked.

"Hey," Noriko snapped as she turned her head towards him.

"She's not Kira," Shimura answered.

"Thank you," Noriko said with a huff.

"The only way she could be Kira would be if you and her worked together, but like Shimura said you don't need help to be successful Namikawa," Mido said.

"Are you saying I'm too stupid to do it on my own?" Noriko asked, a little miffed.

"No, just that you don't have enough influence with the corporation to have been able to put the meetings together on your own."

"Ok that I can see. So back to who we think is Kira, you must have someone in mind or we wouldn't be here, right?"

"Takahashi or Higuchi," Shimura answered.

"I think Takahashi is there to make Kira look smarter. He needs someone more sophisticated than him so he doesn't stand out," Mido supplied as he leaned forward to pour some or the whiskey that was on the table into a rocks glass for himself.

Noriko crinkled her nose at the strong smell of the liquor. "So in other words, Higuchi?"

"We all know it, it has to be him," Reiji said.

"He's obsessed with money and status. More so than Noriko, who we all know could care less, regardless of what she said to get into the meetings," Mido stated, continuing before Noriko could protest. "He always says it doesn't matter, which is what makes it so obvious that it does."

"Why was I included in that little speech?"

"Because I don't know what your real reason for joining the meetings was, but I doubt it was money. I also know Namikawa wouldn't have told you, he not only was protecting his life, but yours. You figured out the meetings' purpose on your own, which is impressive, but why go through all the trouble of forcing your way into them?"

Noriko didn't know how to respond and was glad that Reiji decided to change the subject.

"Are we the only ones you invited here?"

"I asked Ooi, but he said to have our secret meetings on our own," Mido replied.

"Blunt as usual," Noriko grumbled. "Hey, wasn't it the boss that called the meetings originally? He's the one who called me to tell Reiji."

"He called all of us," Shimura answered.

"But then why isn't he a part of all this?" She asked.

"I don't think that old man would want the company to succeed in this fashion. He was probably threatened and agreed to stay quiet," Reiji replied.

"You know you're probably right," Mido began. "He sounded odd that day on the phone, stressed, nervous. I didn't think about it at first, I was thinking about the fact I was getting another raise."

"At that first meeting we were all shown videos of predicted killings on the monitors..."

Noriko winced at Reiji's words and didn't hear the rest of what he was saying, the thought of having to watch those videos, watch as people were murdered, was more than she would have been able to handle. Her nightmares were more than enough for her, those videos would have only added to them. Reiji put a hand on her leg and when she looked up, smiled.

"Namikawa, you received a call at the meeting after Hatori's death, who was that?"

"You sure are sharp. Shimura, which is why Kira chose you as a member. A careful man would never advocate these kinds of killings, Kira couldn't even figure that out. It's no surprise he didn't notice-"

Reiji stopped as his cell phone beeped from his pocket. Noriko glanced at him and down to the phone as he it pulled from his pocket.

"Namikawa speaking," he said, flipping the phone open to answer it.

She couldn't hear what was being said, but the second he glanced up at Shimura before speaking, she had no doubt that it was L, or Light posing as him again anyway.

"There's no need. There's a person here who thought there was something odd about your last call at the meeting."

Noriko saw the surprise on Shimura's face as the man asked, "Who's on the phone?"

"L," Noriko answered.

"L, Mido, Shimura and Noriko are with me."

"What?" Noriko asked when Mido gave her a strange look when Reiji used her first name.

"Do you know L?"

Just as she was about to deny the question, Reiji put his phone on speaker and a distorted voice poured from the phone.

"Noriko's there?" The voice asked.

"Yup, how ya doin' L, where's Ryuzaki," She replied, there was no point in denying she knew L after that, even though she was aware that he wasn't L.

She nearly fell over laughing at the 'Hi, Nori-san' shout that followed her question and the annoyed response from Light, a muffled 'shut up, Ryuzaki'.

"So you do know L," Mido said.

Noriko shrugged. "Unfortunately."

"That hurts my feelings Nori-san," was heard mumbled and distorted in the background.

Noriko turned her face away, letting her hair hide her face as she struggled not to laugh. She had forgotten how fun it was to tease L and how much she enjoyed their conversations.

"So you joined the meetings as a spy?" Mido asked.

"Not exactly. I haven't seen or talked to anyone that has anything to do with L in a long time actually."

"Then why?"

"Maybe we should focus on what L has to say for a moment?" Reiji cut in.

"Thank you," was the garbled response from the telephone speaker. "We are planning on catching Kira tonight and would like your help."

"So Higuchi's finished," Reiji inquired.

"How did you know," 'L' replied in complete surprise.

"We didn't for sure, but we do now," Noriko said with an eye roll as she leaned back into the couch and folded her arms over her chest. There was an irritated huff from the phone and what sounded like someone sighing dramatically.

"Starting at seven tonight we're going to control Higuchi with a television special on Sakura t.v. I want you to call Higuchi a few minutes after it starts and have him watch the show. I won't do anything to the other six of you, but keep Takahashi and Kida from doing anything."

"Alright, then we will just watch the show," Reiji replied.

"And one last thing. Keep Noriko from doing anything stupid once the broadcast starts, we have everything under control," 'L' said.

All eyes turned to her and her mouth dropped. "Oh, come on, why would I do anything stupid?"

"I know you and I know what you believe about just how much people see with their eyes."

Noriko's eyes widened. "He told you?!" She shouted at the phone.

"Don't do anything stupid. Thank you for your help Namikawa, at seven tonight the broadcast will begin, please make sure Higuchi sees it."

With that the line went dead and Reiji clicked his phone shut. "What did he mean?"

"Huh," Noriko gasped when she realized he was looking at her, as were Mido and Shimura.

"About how much people see with their eyes, what did he mean?"

"Uh. Long story."

"We've got about an hour," Reiji replied, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest and staring at her expectantly.

Noriko sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to kill Ryuzaki when I see him," she mumbled before continuing in a louder, but still annoyed tone. "When I was a little girl my dad used to tell me these stories," she went on to tell them that he had told her that beings called shinigami existed and that they had the ability to see the name and lifespans of humans and were able to kill them with that information. She left out the part about the Death Notes and them actually being real though.

"And you believe that?" Reiji asked.

"Well, ugh," she groaned as she hung her head, trying to think of a way to make herself seem less like a crazy person. "Ok, this is hard to explain. Do you all remember when Kira first showed up and started killing? When L first openly stood up to him on television, Lind L Taylor died, both his name and face were on the screen. We all know you need a name and face to kill, it was said in the meetings. So Kira being able to kill Taylor isn't much of a surprise, it was then, but that's not the point. After that, messages were sent by "Kira" to Sakura t.v. I think we all remember that. Anyways, that time Kira was able to kill with just a face, as was evident by the fact that several police officers died at the scene without their names being shown. It also became apparent that this wasn't the actual Kira, it was a second Kira. Are you actually understanding this?" She asked as she glanced at everyone.

"Yes. You're doing fine," Reiji assured her.

"You know now that I know L and that I knew members of the task force. Well, I was a member of the task force, kind of, which is why I also know that it was a fact that the original Kira needed both a name and a face to kill someone. We knew this because criminals whose names were spelled wrong on t.v or in the papers didn't die. The same thing went for criminals whose nicknames were given instead. When the second Kira came into the picture, that changed. All the criminals started dying, whether their names were misspelled or only an alias was used, it didn't matter. Later, one of the tapes the second Kira sent that we intercepted mentioned shinigami and eyes, it was later aired, you all may have seen it. Now that could mean a lot of things, but I think it was some sort of hint as to how Kira is able to kill. After that my dad's stories seemed much more believable.... You all think I'm insane," she mumbled.

"Not at all. It would seem that the mention of shinigami and eyes is meaningful and having grown up hearing stories about the two it's understandable why you would believe what you do," Reiji replied.

"Yeah, it also makes sense, your deductions, but things such as shinigami can't possibly exist. That would be like saying angels exist too," Mido said.

Noriko shrugged.

"Do you believe in angels too, Noriko," Reiji asked, he was teasing her and she knew it.

"Of course, you're looking at one, sort of," she answered with a cheeky smile. 'If only he knew I wasn't entirely lying.'

"It's almost seven, we should turn on the television," Shimura said.

No one protested and everyone went quiet when the television was turned on and they all waited to see just what L had planned for Higuchi.

It was a bit of a surprise, even for Noriko, when it was announced that over the course of the next three hours a man who claimed to know Kira's identity would be interviewed and he would then give the name of who he believed to be Kira.

She sat up straight and stared at the television when a shot of two men behind screens appeared, they were trying to protect themselves of course so this was no surprise. What was, was the fact that the man speaking said he had overheard a meeting of eight people, but one was killed so it became seven people, he even went so far as to say that the victim was a MR H.

"It can't be, I thought you said Matsuda fell?" Noriko said in shock, snapping her head towards Reiji. The voice hadn't been scrambled and she could clearly tell that it was Matsuda on the other side of the screen.

"He did. I'm going to call Higuchi now."

As Reiji called Higuchi to tell him about the broadcast, Noriko continued to watch the show with interest. She gasped when the screen on the left was suddenly knocked over and a surprised Matsuda came into view, trying desperately to hide his face.

"What are they doing?" She mumbled to herself while the screen was put back up and Matsuda's face hidden.

'They plan on drawing Higuchi out, that much was said, but how? Higuchi is probably freaking out right about now,' with a quick glance over to Reiji she figured she was right as he spoke calmly to Higuchi before sighing when the call was ended abruptly, seconds later Mido's phone was ringing. 'If they want to get Higuchi as Kira, they need to know how he kills. They must be trying to have him kill Matsuda, well actually 'Matsui' Misa's previous manager. He would immediately write down the name on Matsui's cards, Taro Matsui, when that doesn't kill him the only other person he would call would be Misa since he was her manager. So she must be in on all this too, but why, she was the second Kira, why is she...'

Noriko gasped loudly and ignored Reiji when he saw the look on her face as she paled and tried to ask her what was wrong. 'I'm an idiot. Dad told me Misa and Light gave up ownership of their death notes. The shinigami, Rem, told me that Misa had no memory of what she had done when she had her notebook. Why did I forget her telling me that, why didn't I think about the fact that Light must have forgotten too. When you give up ownership of the notebook, you must lose your memories of it, it makes sense. Neither one of them have memories of what they did when they had the death notes. Without his memories of being Kira, Light would want to catch Kira, I don't know about the Misa girl, but Rem said Light had a plan to save Misa and that plan included giving the death note to a human who would use it selfishly. Light wouldn't give up his dream of an ideal world just to save that girl, there's no way, he said himself she means nothing to him. The only question is what else is he planning? If they corner Higuchi and he has a death note then what, he acts as Kira again? But he wouldn't know that he was Kira, but still Light wouldn't give away memories of being a god if he knew he wouldn't get them back...'

Noriko was off the couch a split second later, her eyes wide and her breathing shallow. "Shit," she cursed, snatching up her purse and keys before turning to Mido. "Open your gate."

"It opens auto-"

"Not quick enough for me, just do it Mido," she snapped, sprinting for the door. She was stopped when Reiji managed to get a hold of her arm.

"What are you doing, L said himself that they had everything under control. Matsuda is fine."

"I don't give a damn about Matsuda right now. I need to get to wherever Higuchi is. My guess is that he's going to go to the station and try to stop the broadcast, he doesn't know Matsuda's real name so any attempts to kill him will fail. He would only be able to kill him if he gets the eyes and then he would have to see him to do anything. That won't happen, I trust L, but he's doing exactly what he wants. I can't let him get his memories back, he'll kill L and then, and then he'll come after me. I won't-"

"Noriko, calm down, I can barely understand a word you're saying," Reiji cut her off.

She blinked up at him for a second before snaking her arm from his grip. "I'm sorry....I have to go. Open the gate Mido," she shouted over her shoulder as she ran towards her car. She was in the driver's seat and to the gate before anyone had much of a chance to even try and stop her.

"Do we just let her go?" Mido asked Reiji.

"We don't have a choice at the moment, she's already gone," he replied as he stared after he car. He wasn't a fool, she would have gone no matter what he would have said or done to try to keep her there. Now he was just left to wonder if she would be alright.

"Dad," she yelled as she sped down the streets towards the strange dangerous feeling she knew was Higuchi.

"Yes, dear?" The called for man asked, appearing in the passenger seat.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what, and do you know you're speeding? The limit is-"

"When you give up ownership of a notebook, do you lose your memories of what you did with it?"

When there wasn't an immediate response, she shouted angrily and turned to him. "Do you?!"

"Yes," he replied simply.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"There's only so much I can tell you, Noriko, you have to learn some of this on your own."

"What about getting them back after you've given up ownership, is that possible?" She asked.

"Yes it is," he answered.

"How?"

"You would have to touch the notebook you possessed, but if that notebook is owned by someone else then the memories would only return while you're holding it. If it wasn't in any human's possession then ownership would go back to them and the memories would remain."

"Alright. And the shinigami, they know this I assume?"

"Yes."

"Ok, would they tell a human?"

"It depends on the shinigami and the situation I guess, there's no rules against it," her dad replied.

"So he planned on getting the notebook back and his memories with it. There's got to be more to it though, if he was only going to remember while touching the book , he'd want to kill Higuchi and keep his memories. But killing Higuchi with L around would be difficult, so what's he planning?"

"You're talking to yourself, that's not healthy you know."

"Neither is seeing dead people and shinigami, but you know," she retorted as she swerved around several cars. "Huh," she said as she heard a strange, repetitive wup-ing sound and glanced out her window to see a helicopter flying over her. She caught a glimpse of the two people in it and her eyes widened as she stomped on the gas pedal to follow. It seemed that it was flying directly over the freeway that was approaching to her right.

When she got to the first on-ramp, she cursed when she saw that it was closed off. The next few were all closed as well, she noticed that the helicopter seemed to be hovering in an area a little further up, she knew there was an offramp in that direction, but no more on-ramps before it. "Well I know I'm going in the right direction at least. But how do I... Hang on dad, this is going to hurt a little," she said before looking in her rear view mirror and suddenly jerking the wheel to the right. The tires skidded loudly on the asphalt, kicking up dirt and smoke. Several cars screeched to a halt behind her and honked as she spun the car around and drove into the offramp that was just past where the helicopter was hovering.

"Dammit, I can't get through. The cops blocked it off. What do I do," she mumbled to herself as she was forced to break behind the numerous cop cars. It was then that she noticed Higuchi and his car were stopped in front of them and the helicopter was landing on the freeway.

She got out of the car and sprinted towards the scene playing out on the brightly lit freeway. Everyone that wasn't in a car was wearing a dark tinted helmet to cover their faces, making it hard to tell who had grabbed her as she raced towards the helicopter that was still very far.

"Let go," she ordered and tried to break free.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but you're not going anywhere," a make voice barked.

"Like hell I'm not," she shouted before snapping her head up at the sound of a terrified scream

A man in a helmet was on the ground, a black notebook beside him, he stared up at the figure of the shinigami he was now able to see. Someone tried to help him, but when he touched the notebook, he too was able to see what had frightened his comrade, and yelled in shock. After a moment of collecting themselves, one of them, the taller, began to walk towards the helicopter with the black notebook in his hands.

"Sorry buddy, this going to hurt," Noriko said before elbowing the man hard in the stomach. He had loosened his hold on her when he looked up to watch the spectacle and she was able to easily slip free and streak towards the helicopter. She kept her distance from the many cop cars, meaning she was further than she wanted to be from the helicopter that was idling on the freeway and also out of eyesight for the moment.

She could hear people shouting to stop her, hear her heels as they slammed into the concrete beneath her and feel the fear that was building in her chest as the man with the notebook got closer to the helicopter. He was only a few steps away now and she was still too far to do anything, she yelled for Ryuzaki, even Watari who she could see beside the helicopter, most of his face was hidden under a ski mask, but she knew it was him. None of them heard her. She forced her legs to pump quicker when the notebook was handed to Ryuzaki who looked up in surprise at the creature he was now able to see beside Higuchi.

She saw it happening as if in slow motion, saw Light reach over to grab the notebook from Ryuzaki, saw his fingers getting closer to the object before closing around it and snatching it from the detective who looked at him oddly, no longer drawn to the sight of the being before him. Light then cried out in shock as he clutched the notebook, Ryuzaki figured it was from the sight of the shinigami, but Noriko knew from the feeling of immense danger that washed over her that that wasn't the reason. It was then that he finally heard Noriko, or possibly the shouts of the ones chasing her, and asking what to do.

"Nori-san," Ryuzaki said slowly while the girl ran towards the helicopter. He was surprised to see her there and a little confused, but when he saw her looking at Light with a horrified expression, he knew something was wrong. He saw the men chasing after her and quickly ordered that they leave her alone.

"Why is she here? Is she insane," Light commented as he turned towards the running girl, whose eyes were focused on him. He could see in her eyes that she knew he had regained his memories, knew that he was planning on killing Higuchi, but it wasn't until she saw the smirk on his face that she stopped abruptly. It was too late, and she knew it.

She fell to her knees about ten yards from the helicopter, her head dropping into her chest and her hands clenching in her lap. She knew from the dreams that it took forty seconds for a person whose name was written in a death note to die and she was silently counting down from when Light had looked up at her and smirked.

"Zero," she whispered and raised her head in time to see Higuchi begin to convulse as his heart tried to rip free of his chest.

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