Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note

There's a bit of jumping around in this chapter, I hope no one minds.

Chapter 36

Blackout

She bit at her lip and twisted and turned this way and that as she examined herself in the set of full length mirrors in front her. A cream colored strapless dress with an overlay of decorative white lace that had white ribbon that wrapped from the waist to under the bust similar to an obi or corset was what she was so focused on. Mrs. Yagami and Sayu stood a little off to the side, both grinning widely and waiting silently for Noriko's answer on the dress. Slowly, a smile pulled at Noriko's lips and she turned to face them, playing with the long floor length dress.

"I think I've found it," she said happily.

Sayu squealed in delight. "Finally!"

Noriko laughed. "I still had plenty of time to find the right dress. It's only the end of January after all."

"I know, but we've been looking for weeks," Sayu complained.

As she continued to admire the amazing dress, Noriko felt her heart skip a beat and she sucked in a deep breath. Raising a hand to her chest, she leaned forward slightly as her head swam and her vision blurred.

"Are you alright, Noriko," Mrs Yagami asked worriedly.

"Uh..Yeah, I think I just need to eat something, that's all," she replied with a forced chuckle and smile. 'What was that? It was like the feelings I got when Higuchi and Light gained ownership of Death Notes, but I can't feel anything nearby...'

"We're almost done here, just need to have a few adjustments made. It won't be long," Mrs Yagami said reassuringly.

Noriko smiled at her before the older woman went to find the attendant so they could mark out the adjustments for the dress. She closed her eyes and focused as hard as she could on finding the source of her strange feeling a moment before. All she could figure out was that there was someone with a notebook somewhere, but that was it. It wasn't as close as Light and Higuchi had been, it was like it was hidden under an intensely thick fog. 'What's going on?'

Misa sighed as she plopped herself down on to the plush cream and red couch of her hotel room in Los Angeles, California. She was there for a series of photo shoots that had been planned months ago.

"Light hasn't called me in months. It's all that girl's fault," she pouted aloud to herself.

She glanced to the table to her right and the package that was on top of it. The package had been waiting for her apparently, had been there for a few weeks now. Her curiosity peaked and she sat up and opened the box. All she could find inside was a bunch of white packing peanuts, she dumped them to the floor and a manila envelope fell with it. She picked up the envelope and opened it.

"A notebook?" She questioned as she peered in at the contents. A black notebook was the only item she could see.

She pulled it out and was about to examine it when she gasped and went pale. A single sheet of paper fell from within the notebook and fluttered to the floor. Misa snatched it eagerly and read over it with a growing smile.

"Oh Light," she chirped as she crushed the letter to her chest. "How could I have ever doubted you? I love you and will do what ask. I'll act as Kira while you can't and I will wait for the day we will meet again like you promised!"

Light had returned from school alone since Noriko was shopping for a dress with his mom and sister. The task force wasn't around as frequently in the past two weeks, there were no new leads and no new deaths for just over a month now. He set his school things down by the couch and went to the kitchen for some tea.

'Misa should have received the death note by now. As long as she follows my instructions everything will go smoothly. I have Rem's notebook and now that another Kira has appeared I will be able to use it without Noriko suspecting anything. Again everything has gone exactly as I planned.'

He smirked as he went back to the living room to start on his homework and wait for Noriko to come home. He was curious as to if she was able to sense that there as once again another 'Kira' or not. He was hoping that there was a limit to her abilities and that with Misa being in the states, Noriko wouldn't be able to sense anything. So he waited.

"Hey Light," Noriko said a little tiredly as she walked into their apartment to find Light on the couch, hovering over his textbooks with a cup of tea.

"Hey Noriko, you're finally back," he greeted in return with a happy smile as he got up to give her a hug and kiss.

"Yeah, I found a dress today," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Is everything alright, Nori," Light asked as he looked down at her.

She frowned and looked out the glass doors to the patio. "I sensed something strange earlier."

"What?"

"I...don't really know," she replied with a shake of her head. "It was like the feeling I got when you and Higuchi became owners of a notebook."

"But that doesn't make any sense. The only notebook in this world is the one my dad hid," Light answered.

"I know that, but.... It's strange, I can't really tell what it is or where it's from. It's like whatever gave me that feeling is buried beneath tons of sand, I don't understand it. I tried to focus on it, but I couldn't get a grasp on it."

"This could be bad," Light said, concerned.

Noriko nodded and looked away again. "Yeah..."

"Are you alright?"

"Fine. It's just bothering me a lot is all. I thought this whole thing was done with and now there may be yet another threat," Noriko replied.

"Don't worry about it, Noriko. Right now there's no proof that there is another Kira, just a feeling. It maybe nothing, ok."

"Ok," she sighed. "I have a lot of homework to get done, do you want me to get a pot of tea?"

"I'll get it for you. Just relax and get started on your work. Do you want anything to eat?" Light asked.

"Do we have any onigiri left?"

"Yeah, I think we have salmon and tuna. Maybe a pickled ume or two," he replied as he headed for the kitchen.

"I'll take the tuna and ume if we have it. I need my munchies while I study," she said as she set her things up on the table across from Light's and plunked down on the floor on the yellow cushion she had there.

Noriko and Light were just getting back from school and were in the elevator to go to their apartment. They were talking about the wedding and trying to decide where to have it. When the doors to the elevator slid open, they both quieted when they saw that Mr Yagami, Matsuda, Aizawa, Mogi and Ide, who had rejoined the task force after L's death were all gathered in the hallway. Noriko blinked at them and then over to Light, his face sobered and he looked worried.

"Let's go inside," Mr Yagami said calmly as Noriko and Light exited the elevator.

When they got inside, Light and the task force members went up to the loft. Noriko set her things down and stared up at the loft with uncertainty and concern. The things being said were too quiet for her to hear, but she heard Light gasp in surprise. She made her way upstairs slowly and when she saw the looks on everyone's faces, including Light's who was sitting in front of the computers, she went straight to Light's side.

"What's going on," she asked.

"They've started again," Light answered somberly. "The killings."

"What?" Noriko asked in sheer incomprehension, staring wide eyed in disbelief down at Light.

"This morning several of the criminals who have been in the news since Kira stopped killing, have died of heart attacks. There's no doubt that we are dealing with another Kira," Mr Yagami said.

"But...that's not possible," Noriko replied.

"It would seem that it is," Light stated grimly .

"But-"

"Noriko, why don't you get us some tea," Mr Yagami asked kindly, his way of trying to distance her from the investigation she had agreed to stay out of.

She blinked at him and then down at Light, but didn't move.

"I'll help you," Light offered as he stood up and took Noriko's hand to lead her downstairs. "Are you alright Noriko?"

"It's not possible. How can there be another one?"

"Come on," he urged as he lead her through the hall and to their bedroom. "You were saying you don't have much homework tonight and there's no class for you tomorrow so why don't you take a bath and then lay down. I'll check on you in awhile, alright?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," she replied absently.

Light took her face in both hands and forced her dull, worried eyes to meet his. "We'll catch him Noriko. There's no doubt about that, got that? I won't let anything happen to you or anyone you care about again. I can't stand to see you sad. Just have faith in us," he told her with conviction.

She smiled weakly and nodded.

"Good. Get some rest Nori," he said before leaning down to kiss her softly.

She watched him leave the room and for a moment she wondered if he had anything to do with the current Kira. She shook the thought away quickly, she knew what she had sensed the day before and she knew there was no way that Light could possibly have anything to do with the new killings. It made her feel a little guilty that she had doubted him again and with a small frown she went to take a bath.

That night they started again. The nightmares that had stopped plaguing her sleep since just after L's death, around the time Misa gave up the death note, returned to her. They were hazy though, she couldn't figure out what anything was or who the people were, but she knew they were familiar to her. She began waking up drenched in a cold sweat and breathing quickly.

Light was growing more and more worried as the next two months past, Noriko grew quiet and thoughtful, her body thinned as she forgot to do the most simple things, including eating. Her grades were beginning to suffer and she was on the verge of failing several of her classes if she didn't regain her focus soon. By now everyone had noticed Noriko's change and were quickly becoming afraid for the young girl who barely spoke unless spoken to first, and even then it was sometimes hard to get an actual answer from her. The wedding plans were suffering and moving forward slowly, Noriko's attention span was too short to allow for much planning and decision making. Luckily, most of the planning was done and only a few more decisions needed to be made regarding food and floral arrangements.

It was the afternoon of April the 10th and Noriko was staring with little care at several different photos of different floral arrangements that Mrs Yagami and Sayu had picked out. The main color scheme being red and a creamy white that Noriko had decided on. Noriko looked over them blankly, they all looked the same to her. Dull and lifeless with little to no color.

"This one I think," Noriko said as she pushed a picture of ruby red orchids aside. It was a simple centerpiece of a few stems of the orchids in a clear vase.

"I thought you might like that one, and for the bouquet...How about this one?" Mrs Yagami replied cheerfully, trying her best to get more of a reaction out of Noriko.

Noriko stared at the picture of the bouquet, it consisted mainly of cream colored orchids and a few sprigs of red that trailed down a few inches. It really was very pretty, but she just couldn't bring herself to really care. "I like it, the colors are perfect."

Mrs Yagami frowned and looked at Sayu who was openly frowning at Noriko.

"What's been wrong with you lately? It's like you don't want to get married to my brother," Sayu said in that too forward voice that only children got away with using.

"Hmm?" Noriko blinked over to the youngest Yagami who was obviously waiting for an answer to her abrupt question.

"Sayu," Mrs Yagami scolded.

"What? She's been acting all sad and mopey forever," Sayu protested.

"Sorry," Noriko cut in. "I just haven't been feeling all that well. School has had me very busy and I haven't been able to get enough sleep." She smiled a convincingly fake smile and rose from the table they were all seated around. "I really do like those flower arrangements, I love orchids, they're very subtle yet beautiful. I have to go though, Light's going to be home from school soon and he's going to want something to eat before he starts his school work. Thank you for helping me," she said as she gathered her things and headed to the door.

Mrs Yagami and Sayu watched her go quietly, that had been the most she had spoken to either of them in weeks, they were a little stunned.

"Poor Noriko," Sayu sighed.

"She'll be fine. You should do your homework and get ready for dinner," Mrs Yagami replied.

"Oh, do I have to," Sayu whined.

"Yes, you do now get going."

Noriko hadn't expected to beat Light home, but she had. The task force members were already upstairs, she said a quick hello and then wandered to the kitchen. Since she wasn't all that interested in food, she made herself some tea and went to sit on the patio, huddled up on one of the two bamboo chairs. She sipped at her tea and let her mind wander. As usual her thoughts centered around the strange nightmares that were covered in a dense and dark fog. She tried to analyze the dream again, but couldn't come up with anything new or anything that really told her anything about what she was witnessing.

When Light returned home, he stepped out to see her, scaring her and making her jump when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. She smiled wanly up at him and he smiled back happily.

"You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here," he scolded.

"I'm fine."

"You make me worry too much, you know that," he replied with a shake of his head.

"Sorry," Noriko supplied.

"I didn't say I minded, but are you okay, Noriko? You've been so distant and you're losing weight. Everyone's getting really worried about you."

"Really," she asked distractedly. "I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about."

"I know you better than that. I also already told you not to worry," Light replied as he sat beside her and cupped her cheeks in his palms. "We will catch Kira. You need to focus on yourself and school, don't worry about anything else."

She smiled weakly. "I know, but those dreams are bothering me. They've never been so hard to see before. Two months I've been having them, but I still don't have the slightest idea what they are or what they're trying to tell me."

"You need to relax, you're stressing yourself too much. Just leave it alone, you'll know when you need to, right?"

"I hope so," Noriko replied.

"I need to get in there. You should come inside too, I don't want you getting sick. I love you Nori."

"Love you too Light."

Light leaned forward to give her a soft, sweet kiss before smiling at her and going inside to join the task force and resume the search for Kira.

Sighing, Noriko looked into the setting sun and watched as the sky changed colors. Yellows and oranges darkened to reds and slowly these darkened to purples and then to several shades of blue that deepened until the entire sky was a blanket of darkness that was littered with twinkling lights and a large, full moon.

It was calming, to watch the night sky and the clouds that rolled across it from time to time, so calming in fact that Noriko fell asleep. Her head was tilted back on to the chair, her knees resting on the arm and her toes dangling over the edge. Light had come out awhile before with a blanket and another cup of hot tea for her, the blanket was draped over her shoulders and the tea was on the small table to her right. She had been awake at the time, but she wasn't willing to leave the peaceful solitude that the night provided. Light didn't argue, he was worried enough about her as it was, he figured letting her do as she pleased was the best thing for her and just constantly reminding her that he loved her and was there for her.

Noriko's at first quiet and peaceful sleep was interrupted by the same dream she had been having for the past two months, only this time every detail was crystal clear. She was in the meeting room back on the nineteenth floor of Yotsuba. Reiji, Ooi, Takahashi, Mido, Shimura and Kida were all there. They seemed to be discussing a new beginning for the company and between themselves. Noriko wasn't visible to the men as she watched from behind Reiji's chair and observed as Reiji stood to shake hands with Shimura and the others, she smiled at the gesture, but the smile quickly faded. Reiji seemed to tense before leaning forward and coughing up a stream of blood. Her eyes widened and everything seemed to slow down and come to an almost complete halt.

"Oh my god," she breathed as she suddenly realized that everyone in the room was in danger, she could sense a strange presence that was circling everyone and trying to wrap itself around them.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Noriko grasped tightly to the back of the chair that Reiji had been sitting in. "What am I supposed to do? I can sense it, I can sense something ominous and dark that's wrapping itself around everyone here..But what am I supposed to do?"

"Calm down."

Noriko's eyes flew open to see her dad sitting nonchalantly on the edge of the desk in front of her.

"D-dad?"

"Hey sweetie," he greeted happily.

"What's going on?" She asked as she looked around and realized that everything was frozen in place. Reiji had begun to fall to the floor and the others were beginning to panic, sensing that they were next.

"You want to save them, right?" He asked.

"Yes, but how am I supposed to do that? I couldn't save L or Watari," she replied, choking back tears as she remembered the look on L's pale face as the man had died in her arms.

"Like I said, calm down. Focus," he said slowly and calmly. "You can sense it, can't you, the darkness floating around the room?"

Noriko took a deep, shaky breath and nodded.

"Can you see it?"

Blinking at her dad, she looked around again and shook her head. "No, I don't see-" she cut herself off with a surprised gasp as she realized she could see what looked like thick black fog dancing around the room. Tendrils of the fog had wrapped themselves around Reiji and was preparing to wrap around Shimura and the others, but it hadn't quite grasped them yet. "What is that?"

"Think of it as the spirit of the notebooks, it's what carries out what is written in the notebook," her dad answered. "Now that you can see and sense it, just trust your instincts." His green eyes twinkled and he grinned at her before he shattered before her eyes and disappeared.

At the same instant everything began to move again, Noriko relinquished her grasp on the chair in front of her to fly toward Reiji as he fell. She managed to catch him before his head hit the ground and rest his head in her lap. It surprised her when he actually looked up at her and met her eyes before clenching his eyes shut as his body shuddered violently. Her hands wavered on either side of him and she screwed her eyes shut.

'Trust my instincts?! What the hell is that supposed to mean,' Noriko thought frantically as her fists balled up and she began to panic.

She tried to take a deep, calming breath and focus on the feeling she was getting from the aura that was engulfing the room. She gasped when there was a sudden bright light behind her closed eyes. The light grew bigger and warmed her entire body, filling her with a feeling as serene and calm as a small stream in the spring. Her shaking stopped and her confidence returned as her eyes flew open as her silvery wings spread open around her with a muffled flap and swoosh.

There was a feral hiss from the smoky black fog that was swirling closer and closer to the others, it wavered and retreated slightly, but only for a moment before pressing forward with renewed hunger.

"I made a promise. I will not let Reiji die and I will not let the others die," Noriko growled as she placed her hands over Reiji's heart. There was a bright flash of light and a sense of pain in Noriko's mind, but she pushed past it until all she could feel was a cool warmth like the first summer's breeze.

Reiji's eyes blinked in shock, he stared up at Noriko whose eyes weren't on him but on the black mass that only they could see forming in the center of the room. She carefully laid Reiji's head onto the wooden floor and stood up, her chin rising defiantly and her eyes narrowing. There was a shimmering white and silver light that was beginning to twirl around her body from her feet until it swam around her entire frame and wings. There was a brief pause as the substance in the center of the room prepared to strike out at the ones who had been marked for death by the notebooks.

Noriko didn't blink, or move as she focused her attention on the writhing black cloud, there was something similar to the pulse of a heart and five tendrils of the substance shot off towards the remaining men.

"I already told you," Noriko said authoritatively, not even a hint of doubt in her voice. "They aren't going to die here."

There was another dramatic pulse and shift in the atmosphere around her as her wings beat once and the white and silver light around her flew around the room. It encircled the black aura before a single tendril could reach any of the frightened men that were gathering around Reiji with no idea of the threat that loomed mere feet away.

"Sorry, but you will be the one to die here," Noriko said as she raised a hand in the air, palm down and fingers extended outward. For a brief second nothing happened, the black aura tried to expand and push against the barrier that was keeping it from the souls it was supposed to devour. Noriko never wavered, she curled her fingers in and made a tight fist. The shimmering light closed in on the darkness, there was a loud screech like the howl of the wind on a dark and stormy night, but it dissipated and died slowly. When Noriko reopened her palm a moment later there as a mixture of what looked like black and white glitter that erupted from the center of the room, it swirled around for a moment before there was a soft wooshing noise and it disappeared.

"Namikawa! Hey, call an ambulance," someone shouted.

Noriko gasped and her eyes widened, she blinked as she turned to look at Reiji who still lay on the floor looking over at her with awe. She smiled at him softly before falling to her knees and bring her hands to her chest.

'What was that just now, it was like I wasn't the one controlling my actions...But I saved them...I saved them,' she thought as she looked around the several men that were still breathing and alive. She noticed Reiji's gaze was still on her and she smiled again, "You look like hell."

He chuckled once at her statement and looked away. "And you look like an angel," he said. No one around him seemed to notice what he had said, but Noriko's face went blank in confusion before another smile lit up her face.

"Something like that," she replied.

She pushed herself back up to her feet, wavering slightly when she realized how exhausted her body was. Reiji was being taken by the paramedics now and the others were slowly leaving the room. She looked down at her hands and sighed, she had no idea what had just happened or how she had managed to just save the lives of six people, but she wasn't going to question it.

"Ugh," she groaned as her heart beat painfully, ringing in her ears loudly. Her hands covered her heart as she leaned forward, she let out a piercing cry at the pain that was so suddenly clawing away at her entire body. She felt as if she were being stung by thousands of poisonous insects and fire was slowly spreading throughout her tired body.

"Noriko!"

"Huh?" Her eyes flew open and she was confused to see that she was back on the patio and no longer in the Yotsuba meeting room. "Oh my God," she breathed as her chest tightened painfully and all air was knocked from her lungs. 'How the hell did I miss it? They're here, in Japan...' She thought as she fully awoke with a jolt that sent her tea on the table near her clattering to the ground, in her haste to stand up she fell forward, landing on her hands and knees with a pained cry.

"Noriko," she heard Light shout from inside followed by several sets of heavy, quick footsteps coming down the stairs.

"How, how did I miss it? And why them? No one knows about their involvement except for myself, Light and the task force. So why them?" Noriko mumbled to herself quickly in a voice barely above a whisper when Light crouched next to her and lifted her up so that she was sitting on her calves. She spaced out then as she thought over the meaning of the attempts on the lives of the Yotsuba employees. She became confused as she realized it had all been a dream, a very real, very life like dream, but a dream nonetheless.

"Noriko, what happened? Are you alright?" Light asked as he tried to get her attention, but she was staring off into the night.

It took him a moment, but he noticed that she was clutching her right hand to her chest, red liquid staining her shirt and seeping from the small spaces between her fingers. He took her hand carefully, eliciting a hiss from her as he forced it open. There was a deep gash across her palm as well as several smaller cuts, some that appeared to still have glass in them. When she had fallen, she had landed on pieces of the tea cup that shattered.

"Noriko, look at me," Light pressed.

She blinked away the haze that was clouding her vision and slowly turned her head to look at Light. Something in her mind clicked then and sparked in her eyes. "What happened?" She asked.

"You were screaming then we heard something break and you screamed again," Light answered, he was busy wrapping a towel that his dad had gotten around Noriko's wounded hand.

"Ow.." She winced as Light tightened the towel around her hand. "I was having another dream. I saw it all this time."

"We need to get her to an emergency room, that cut is deep, she's probably going to need stitches," Mr Yagami put in worriedly.

"No. I'm fine," Noriko replied as she tried to snake her hand from Light. "It's not that bad."

"It's not that bad? It won't stop bleeding. Come on, we're going to the hospital," Light said as he stood up and started pulling her to her feet.

"I don't need your help," she snapped, pulling her arm from Light's grasp as she glowered at him.

"What's going on with you, Noriko? You've been out of it for weeks and now you're-"

"They're here Light," she hissed. "In Japan, I don't know how I missed it, how I never sensed it, but I didn't. Kira is in Japan."

"Didn't we already know that," Matsuda quietly asked Mogi.

Her green eyes that were now blazing with life slid over to Matsuda who gulped and chuckled.

"You're not making any sense Noriko. It doesn't matter right now though, we need to get you to the hospital," Light argued.

"I'll go when you answer me one question," she barked. "When Higuchi was captured as Kira, were the other Yotsuba members ever mentioned as accomplices or as having anything to do with the killings at all?"

"The only ones to know about the others' involvement in the meetings are those of us here," Aizawa answered.

"And Misa Misa," Matsuda added.

Noriko's face went blank as the name was said and she turned to Light who was studying her curiously. "Let's go," she said as she walked past him, holding her hand to her chest and snatching her purse with her good hand. "We can take my car, here," she said as she tossed the keys at Light who caught them ease.

Choosing to remain silent in the car on the way to the hospital, Noriko stared out the window thoughtfully. She had no idea what that dream was supposed to mean, but it gave her hope that she would be able to save Reiji and the others when the time came. It also raised a lot of questions for her. The number of people who knew of the involvement of the men she had saved in her dream were limited. Meaning that someone had either leaked information, or someone she already knew was acting as Kira and that's what bothered her. In reality that only left Light and Misa as possibilities for being Kira.

Her first instinct told her Light, but she was forced to brush that off when she realized that she had nothing to base that off of except for the fact that she could sense that he owned a notebook. The fact that she was also now fully aware of someone else in Japan with a death note did little to help that theory, it actually made it even more impossible.

She sighed as they pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked. The hospital wasn't where she wanted to be at the moment, she wanted to be trying to figure out who was acting as Kira again. She already had a very good idea, she just needed to find a way to see for herself if she were right or not.

Light opened her door for her since she didn't want to get blood on anything and helped her out wordlessly. He looked a little angry with her, but Noriko figured she could worry about that later after she had sorted out her thoughts.

Her and Light had to wait to cross through the entryway into the emergency room as an ambulance sped up to the entrance and jolted to a stop. The back doors flew open and two men jumped out as a nurse came running out of a side entrance used by the emergency teams. When the vehicle stopped Noriko walked beside Light and headed towards the main entrance of the hospital.

"Dammit," she cursed quietly when the towel around her hand loosened and fell to the ground. Light was several steps ahead of her by now and as she stood she took a glance to her right where several people were pulling a stretcher carefully from the ambulance. Her breath hitched in her throat and her knees buckled under her weight as all color drained from her face as she stared at the pale, long haired man on the stretcher. "Reiji," she gasped before her entire world went black.

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