Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note

Chapter 38

Day of Confrontations

"Hey, Mel. Buddy," a young man with shaggy copper colored hair, a cigarette dangling from his lips and a hand held video game in his hands mumbled to a frustrated blond boy beside him, jabbing him repeatedly with his elbow.

"What, Matt," the blond snapped grumpily, his blue eyes narrowing as he turned to look at his best friend whose eyes were hidden behind a pair of goggles that were currently serving as sunglass.

"It looks like we've got company," Matt said, nodding his head to an auburn haired girl who was on the opposite side of the street, her eyes narrowed and locked on the back of a brown haired boy that was walking into the same cafe he and his friend were about to venture into.

"Well this might have just gotten interesting," the blond remarked with a smirk.

"Don't you think we should call-"

"We're not calling anyone, let her do what she wants, she's not our problem."

"If you say so buddy, but if princess over there gets hurt, it's your ass not mine," Matt grumbled.

"She'll be fine."

"I hope so," Matt sighed, shifting his attention to his video game when they sat down at a table on the opposite side of a partial wall from where the blond with pig tails and her brown haired friend had sat.

Noriko clenched her jaw as she lowered her shaking hand to her side, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the entrance to the cafe she had just seen Light, Misa and Ryuk enter together. Her emotions were so intense as they swam around in her head, each one fighting to dominate the other that she could honestly say she had no idea how she felt at the moment.

"A Shinigami?" Reiji was saying behind her, pulling her attention away from the door of the cafe.

"Yes. Misa Amane is Kira, again. Not that I'm surprised, I've thought so ever since the failed attempt on your life and the rest of the group at Yotsuba. The bastard lied to me. He told me he had nothing to do with all of this. I'm an idiot," she hissed, her eyes filling with angry tears as her nails dug into her palms painfully. "I should never have believed him."

"What are you going to do?" Reiji asked, deciding it was best not to agree with her, even though he did.

She glanced back at the restaurant, her eyes flickering spitefully. "Teach him a lesson," she replied darkly. "Will you be home later? I have a feeling I'm going to need a place to stay."

"What are you planning on doing, Noriko," Reiji questioned a bit roughly, the way she was talking made him think she was going to do something reckless and it worried him.

"I'll be over in a few hours, if that's alright," she said, ignoring his question and the way he frowned at her answer. "Excuse me," she brushed past him, rejoining the crowds and disappearing from his view in a matter of seconds.

She made her way to the end of the street where there was a stop light and crosswalk. Once the light changed, she walked as calmly as she could across the street and to the cafe, pulling the door open and walking in without hesitation, ignoring the greetings of the staff and the odd looks she got as she made her way to the back. Her heart was beating fiercely in her chest, ringing in her ears as she walked through the restaurant.

It wasn't hard to figure out where Light and Misa were, not with Ryuk boredly hanging upside down above them, he stuck out a bit, to those who could actually see him anyway. When the Shinigami saw her walking towards him, he started chuckling like a giddy child. The chuckles were what made Light look up and follow Ryuk's yellow eyes to the narrow eyed girl that was walking towards them, much like a cat who was hunting a mouse.

"Noriko," he muttered, his eyes widening in shock.

"Care to explain yourself, Light Yagami," Noriko questioned with a rather intimidating smile as she walked up to their table, her hands clasped tightly in front of her.

"I-"

Noriko never let him finish, as he stood up from the table her hand flew up, slamming into his cheek with enough force to send him stumbling back a few steps. Misa screeched when he bumped into the table, sending her ice water into her lap.

"You are a liar, a cheat, and most of all a manipulative bastard," Noriko seethed viciously, her cheeks red with anger and her hands shaking.

"How dare you talk to Light like that," Misa cried, her hands on her hips as she tried to glare menacingly at Noriko who stared back at her evenly, one eyebrow raised in a look that clearly said she had no problem hitting the blond entertainer either.

"Shut up, Misa," Light growled, ignoring the pout that she gave him to look pleadingly at a very angry Noriko. "Look, Nori, please-"

"You have no right to speak to me. Now or ever again. I would sooner trust him," she hissed, thrusting a finger very close to Ryuk's nose and startling the Shinigami as he continued to hang upside down above them, watching the show they were providing him with interest. "Before I ever thought of believing another word that came from you. I hope you remember what I said would happen if I found out who Kira was, because I will make sure they pay for their crimes and I will make sure you fall with them. This is yours," she stated harshly, pulling her engagement ring from her finger to slam it down on the table beside Light. "I highly suggest that you don't show your face at the apartment for at least two hours, otherwise I don't know that I'll be able to keep my mouth shut about everything I saw here. As for you," she growled, turning her wrath on Misa, who swallowed her attempt to look defiant and backed up a little. "I hope you enjoy your time together. Whatever's left of it anyway."

"Nori, please, it's not what you think," Light called after her as she stalked away from the table.

She spun around when she heard Light trying to scramble after her, her fist clenched as she pivoted on her heel and swung a very graceful punch right at his nose. Light's eyes widened when he realized what was coming, but he didn't have enough time to move aside or block the blow before her fist slammed into his face, there was a rather loud cracking nose and blood immediately began to pour from his damaged nose.

"Nice one," she heard Ryuk chuckle as Light fell to the floor, clutching his nose, Misa freaking out and fussing over him.

Noriko snorted, smirking as she looked up at the Shinigami that was chuckling amusedly. "Thanks Ryuk, see ya around."

"Looking forward to it, you're quite entertaining and much nicer than either one of these two," Ryuk replied with a dramatic sigh.

"Oh, two hours Light, any sooner and I don't guarantee that I won't break something else," Noriko said, spinning on her heel as she reached the doors to the cafe, she smiled smugly at Misa who was gaping at her and looking like she wanted to punch her, but somehow knew it would end badly for her instead of Noriko.

"I think I'm in love," Matt deadpanned, blinking after the woman that had just thrown what he thought was one of the most beautiful punches he had ever seen as she made her way out of the restaurant.

"Shut up you idiot," his blond companion hissed, although there was a bit of a smirk pulling at his own lips.

"Sorry man, but did you see that Mello?"

"Yes, Matt, I saw it, I do have eyes you know. Now shut up, I can't hear them over your ranting," Mello snapped.

"Ah, right," Matt grumbled. "Work."

Misa was attempting to help Light up, but the young man clearly didn't want her help as he swatted her away and scowled at her. One of the waitresses had brought him a rag and a bag of ice to put over his swollen nose and he went back to the table he and Misa had been sitting at to pick up the ring Noriko had left on the table.

"What are we gonna do, Light," Misa whispered frantically.

"You aren't going to do anything, I'll deal with Noriko. She'll see just how manipulative I can be," Light replied in a hushed but angry voice.

Matt and Mello exchanged quick glances, both frowning before straining to hear the rest of the quiet conversation.

"Where are you going," Misa asked in a childish whine.

"To the hospital and then home. I'm going to make a few calls too, make sure my dad and the others are there to see Noriko have a little breakdown. I can't let her leave, not again. She's mine," he growled.

"Let's go," Mello said to Matt, nodding his head towards the door.

"Yes sir," Matt replied with a mock salute as he slid out from behind the table and followed his blond friend outside. "So what are we going to do? You heard what she said to him, sounds like she thinks one of them's Kira and she seemed to talk to someone who wasn't there a few times."

Mello grunted in frustration. "Why couldn't the chick just mind her own business?"

"Uh, I think that kind of was her..Sorry," Matt chuckled nervously when he received one of Mello's cold glares. After that, he chose to remain silent and play games while Mello fished his phone out of his pocket to make a call.

"Come on," Mello grunted less than a minute later, pushing himself up from the wall he had been leaning against. "We get to kidnap your princess."

"Huh," Matt tore his eyes away from his video game and didn't even hear the ominous bloop that signaled the character he was playing was now dead as he stared up at his rather serious looking companion, or maybe accomplice would now be a better word....

The drive back to the apartment seemed to take longer than usual for the impatient green eyed girl that was desperately trying to not run every red light she was forced to stop for. Which was almost every single light between the parking garage downtown to the parking structure for the apartment complex. On top of that, it seemed there was a great deal of traffic and it made the thirty minute drive take closer to an hour before she stepped out of her car, slamming her door behind her before stalking towards the elevator.

She was grumbling curses under her breath as she waited for the elevator, her foot tapping impatiently against the ground. If she had been paying more attention, she may have realized that there were two sets of footsteps quietly approaching her and the sound of an engine idling nearby. When the elevator doors slid open, she huffed and went to step inside, but was stopped when someone grabbed her elbow and jerked her backwards.

Her first instinct was to throw her elbow into her attacker's gut, which she did, and got an annoyed grunt from the person behind her that was trying to keep her arms pinned to her side.

"Dammit, Matt, would you hurry up already!" A gruff voice snapped.

"Yeah, yeah," another voice replied with a sigh. "Sorry princess, but you need to go to sleep now."

Noriko tried to scream, but it was cut off as a strong hand was placed over her mouth as well as an oddly smelling rag. She fought harder, trying to twist and turn in an attempt to get the rag away from her face, but the grip on her only tightened. In a last effort to get away, she stomped hard on the black booted foot she could see even as her vision began to swim in and out of focus.

She heard the man holding her yell out in pain, his grip slackening enough that she was able to break away, the hand holding the cloth to her face jerking away from her. She spun around, throwing a fist out at where she thought the face of the man who had been holding her would be. Unfortunately, the quick movement made her head spin and the world flip flopped uncomfortably, making her stomach turn. She felt her fist make contact with something hard, but it barely registered to her. Everything was beginning to go black and she was having a hard time standing on her wobbly legs.

"Whoa, careful there beautiful," she heard the lazy sounding man say worriedly as he steadied her, putting his hands on her shoulders and scooping her up before her knees gave out completely. "Don't want you getting hurt, now do we?"

Noriko could only groan in reply as she blinked at the hazy, boyish face that was grinning down at her.

"Stupid bitch hit me!"

The boy holding her, looked up at the angry shout. "Well, you can't really blame her, we are kidnapping her and all."

"Is she out?"

"Not quite."

"Where's the damn cloth?"

There was the distorted sound of someone shuffling around for a moment before the strange smelling cloth was clamped over her face again. She couldn't even fight against the arms holding her or the hand holding the cloth to her nose, all she could do was take shallow breaths and let everything fade away into total blackness.

"Get her in the car."

"I know Mel, no need to be so grouchy just 'cause ya got hit by a girl," Matt replied with a smirk as he walked to the waiting black town car.

"Shut up, I let her hit me," Mello snapped.

"Sure ya did buddy, sure ya did," Matt chuckled, carefully placing the girl in his arms into the backseat of the car and sliding in next to her.

"So when do you think she'll wake up, Mello?"

"I don't know, Matt," someone, presumably Mello replied boredly with a hint of irritation in his tone.

"Do you think she'll freak out when she sees him?" Matt asked curiously.

"Probably."

'See's who,' Noriko thought to herself in hazy confusion.

She was beginning to come back around, but she felt as if she had been hit by a train and had had her eyelids glued shut. Her body wouldn't respond to her commands to open her eyes so that she could see the people that were talking.

After several minutes of not being able to do anything but listen to the bleeps and bloops of some random device and the occasional bickering between the two people with her, Noriko finally managed to crack an eye open and groan when the harsh light of whatever room she was in greeted her.

"Your girlfriend's coming around," she heard the boy, Mello, say without much care.

'Girlfriend? What the hell's going on,' Noriko thought, finally opening her other eye and nearly suffering from a heart attack when a grinning face framed by strange copper colored haired was suddenly looming above her, grinning widely.

"Why hello precious, so nice of you to finally wake up," he said cheerfully.

"Ugh," was all she could manage before clamping a hand over her eyes.

"Oh, right. Here, drink this, it probably tastes like crap, but it's supposed to help. I think."

Lifting her hand slightly to peer at the boy that was holding out a glass of what looked like water to her. He looked to be about sixteen and he had a pair of goggles resting on the top of his head. He was dressed plainly, a loose green and black stripped shirt and a pair of old looking jeans. For some reason she thought he looked familiar, but she couldn't understand why, she was certain she had never seen him before.

"Who are you?" Noriko croaked, her throat was dry and scratchy and she was shifting around in the bed she was laying in, trying to sit up so she could take the cup from the boy's hand.

"My name's Matt, that's Mello," he answered, pointing to an all back clad blond boy with a bruised and swollen cheek that was glaring heatedly at her. "He's grumpy, perpetually, don't mind him."

"And you kidnapped me, why?" She inquired, snatching the glass from Matt and giving him a rather vicious look in the process.

"Ah, about that," Matt replied, scratching at his chin thoughtfully. "Well, drink that and I'll take you downstairs. Someone's waiting to see you."

"Oh, this is disgusting," Noriko coughed after swallowing a large gulp of the drink she had been given.

"Sorry pretty lady, but your head should feel better soon at least."

"I have a name you know," Noriko grumbled.

"I know, Noriko Mori, a.k.a Nori or on occasion Nori-san."

Noriko jolted, sloshing some of the foul tasting drink on her shirt in her surprise at hearing the nickname that L had liked to use when talking to her. She blinked at Matt before finally taking a good look at the room she was in. Her eyes clouded in confusion, the room was oddly familiar to her. After a moment of looking around, her eyes widened.

"This is...it's my old room at the old task force headquarters," she blurted out in her surprise.

"Yup, Watari thought you'd be-"

"What the hell is going on," Noriko shouted, dropping the glass in her hands as she scrambled to get off the bed.

"Calm down there beautiful," Matt said soothingly, holding his hands out in front of himself to try and show her that he meant her no harm.

"No, who are you people? Why am I here and how do you know about Watari, he's dead!" She yelled shakily, taking a step back as Matt stepped towards her.

"Just calm-"

"He's not dead," Mello stated roughly before Matt could say anything.

"Wh-what are you..." Noriko trailed off as she backed into the wall.

"We work for L," Mello said.

"I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, but I don't want any part of it."

"Mel, she just woke up, give her a few minutes would you," Matt grumbled, scratching at his head. "She doesn't know what's going on."

"Well then tell her, she's not a kid, Matt, so don't baby her. L and Watari aren't dead."

"Liar," Noriko cried, tears now freely pouring down her cheeks. "I watched him die, he was in my arms when he died, why are you doing this to me?"

"Jeez Mel, couldn't you have at least let me do the talking," Matt sighed forlornly as he watched Noriko look as if she were about to break into pieces as tears streaked down her pale cheeks. "Listen, Noriko, what Mello is saying is true. Both L and-"

"Shut up," she screeched, pushing past him and throwing the door open to run down the hall to the living room.

Racing towards the door, she stumbled on one of the rugs, falling to her knees, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

"Still not very graceful I see," a familiar bored voice drawled from behind her.

She froze, her body tensing and her breath catching in her throat.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps from the hall, but they stopped a few feet behind her.

"Ah, hey, sorry, but Mel over here got a little carried away with the telling her you guys were alive and-"

"It's alright, Matt," the familiar voice said dismissively. "Seeing is believing, isn't that what they say? So, Nori-san, do you believe them now?"

A pair of bare feet, partially covered by baggy blue jeans appeared in the spot she was staring blankly at. Taking a shaky breath, she let her eyes roam over the person standing in front of her, from the baggy jeans to the white shirt to the shadowy onyx eyes and disheveled raven hair. She choked back a sob, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she shook her head from side to side, clenching her eyes shut in disbelief.

"You're supposed to be dead..."

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