Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note

Warning for some OOC moments. Please forgive me.

Chapter 41

Plan for Death

"Wow, that was one hell of a performance, beautiful. Now we'll be able to get this Death Note thing in no time and there won't be any need to worry anymore," Matt cheerily said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning into the couch with a grin on his face.

"No," Noriko replied. She was still facing the monitors, her face blank while she stared at a black screen before her.

"Huh, what do you mean no," Matt asked in confusion, blinking from Noriko to L who was staring blankly at his own computer screen. "Uh, am I missing something?"

"What the hell's going on, L," Mello grunted from his spot stretched over the couch.

"The notebook that will be given to us will be the notebook that is in Soichiro Yagami's possession and that he has hidden where no one but himself could ever find it," L said.

"Meaning it's not being used," Noriko added to help make things a little clearer. She then stuck her thumb on her bottom lip and began chewing on her nail, not realizing L was practically doing the same thing only a few feet away.

"It's not the notebook that is currently being used to kill criminals? Then why do we want it," Matt asked.

"Because it's a start and it'll keep Light from scheming up a way to get it out of his father's possession one day so that he can use it," Noriko answered.

Matt sighed and scratched at his messy copper head of hair. "Well, I guess that makes sense, but what'll stop him from using the other one?"

"There is no telling if the other notebook is in Light Yagami's possession or not-"

"That's not true," Noriko spoke up, turning to face L when his dark eyes cornered over to her and he raised a thin eyebrow. "I can sense that Light is in possession of the notebook that his father has, but I can also sense that there is someone else in possession of a notebook besides Light. That would be Misa, she's the one I saw the shinigami, Ryuk, with."

L's blank face contorted into a thoughtful frown. "When he exchanges the notebook for you, will you be able to sense that he is no longer the owner of that notebook?"

It was Noriko's turn to frown. She took her time in answering the question, thinking about what she knew of the notebooks and how ownership of them worked. She didn't know much, but she knew that she had always been able to sense something whenever a human was in possession of a notebook as well as when they gave up their ownership of it. She also knew that giving up ownership of the Death Note would mean losing all memories of what you did while in possession of it. Slowly she let out a long sigh and shook her head. Propping her head up in her hands, she stared up at the ceiling. "It's highly doubtful that Light would actually give up ownership of the notebook, he would lose all memories of it if he did that and he won't risk that. He'll probably have his father be the one to handle it that way he is less likely to be pressured into giving up ownership somehow. I don't even think you could threaten him into giving up ownership, he won't believe that anyone else knows all of this. He would get suspicious if my kidnappers know things that only he and I are aware of. So I guess the answer to your question is that yes I would be able to tell if Light gave up ownership, but I don't see that happening."

"Nori-san is right," L replied reluctantly, picking up a sugar cube from a bowl beside his empty coffee cup and dropping it into his mouth.

Resting her chin in her palm, she shot the raven haired man a dark look and grumbled, "So we're back to Nori-san, huh?"

"Is that a problem, Nori-san," he asked, looking over at her to catch her eyes and see them widen minutely before she looked away with a quiet, tired sounding sigh.

"No," she mumbled, standing up from the metal desk chair. "Excuse me, I'm not feeling very well. I'm going to my room to lay down."

Avoiding the onyx eyes that were following her every move, Noriko made her way to the steps that would lead her to the elevators. She hummed curiously when she heard muffled footsteps trailing behind her. Swiveling around to see who was following her, she was surprised to see L slouching his way up the steps, his thumb balanced on his lower lip and his eyes assessing her. Choosing to ignore the detective, Noriko turned away and once the elevator doors opened, stepped into the steel contraption. L followed, standing a few feet away from her and watching her the entire time she was trying to ignore him.

He found it quite amusing. The way her eyebrow began to twitch and her jaw clenched simply because he was staring at her. Her foot even began to tap impatiently on the tile of the elevator floor while her small, pale hands fisted at her sides. He was practically smirking when she whirled around to glare at him, thankfully he was able to hide the smirk before she noticed and got any angrier.

"What are you doing," she demanded.

He blinked, a clear signal to her that he thought the answer to her question was quite obvious. "I'm riding the elevator with Nori-san."

Huffing in annoyance, Noriko folded her arms over her chest. "Why?"

He blinked again. "Because Nori-san has the best cake in her room."

Her brow rose, her signal to him that she thought him to be insane. "You realize that I have no cake, right? I was sort of unconscious when I was brought here. That means I wasn't able to stop and get cake."

"Really?" He sounded mildly disappointed.

"Really." She sounded incredibly sarcastic.

"Then I suppose I'm just here because Nori-san is pretty."

Noriko deadpanned. L had lowered his hand and shoved it into his pocket and was now giving her a semi-smile that sort of creeped her out. She didn't even notice the elevator door had opened and was about to close until L said something.

"Isn't this Nori-san's stop?"

"Huh?" She turned around to see what he was talking about only to shout in surprise as the door began to slide shut. Sticking her hand in the way, she nudged the door and it began to open once again. Without another glance back, she exited the elevator and made her way towards her room. It was when she heard L following along behind her that she stopped and spun around. "Why are you following me?"

"I believe I already told you-"

"Already told me that you didn't want me around? Yeah, you did and I'm really not in the mood for you to be picking on me at the moment. So I'll ask again. Why are you following me, L?"

"Is Nori-san-"

"Dammit!" Noriko snapped interrupting the dark eyed man again and earning herself a raised brow from him to voice his displeasure. "Didn't I already tell you to knock it off? I'm standing right here, there is no need to constantly say my name. You say you want to distance yourself from me because I'm a distraction, which is why I'm assuming you call me Nori-san all the time. Or just to annoy me, but either way if you want to distance yourself then why don't you-" She cut herself off and took a step backwards when L withdrew his hands from his pockets and straightened himself up a bit though his shoulders were still hunched slightly. Surprisingly, he was a bit taller than she had expected and she gulped when she looked up to lock eyes with him when he took a few steps towards her.

"You're rambling."

"I do that sometimes," she replied distractedly, eying him wearily. "But what do you expect? You're not exactly my favorite person right now, L. You kept the fact that you and Watari were still alive from me and then you have me kidnapped so that you can use me. Again, since I wasn't much help the first time around. Then you go and say that-"

She was cut off again when she suddenly and inexplicably, because she was certain she hadn't had her back to the wall a moment before, found her back against the hallway wall. Inches in front of her face hovered L, his eyes studying her in a way that made heat rise to her cheeks.

"W-What are you-" Noriko never got to finish her question when L's lips lightly pressed down upon hers. Green eyes widening, she didn't really know what to do or how to react. In the end, she settled for pushing L away, glaring at him and attempting to slap him only to have her hand caught in his firm grip.

"That's not very nice, Noriko."

She didn't even notice that he had used her full first name, no honorific, it didn't matter to her at the moment. "What do you expect?" She yelled, angry tears filling her eyes that she hastily wiped away after jerking her hand from his grasp. "After the day I've had, you can't just kiss me and figure that that will make everything ok! I thought you were dead!"

L visibly winced at Noriko's raised voice, but took a step back to give her some room since it seemed clear that was what she needed. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure why he had kissed her, it seemed like a good way to make her be quiet. It appeared that he might have been wrong and that it had instead had the opposite effect, he would have to file that away for later. Just in case. He also chose to remain silent, which proved a good idea when she continued.

"Up until a few hours ago, I was engaged to the man I had always loved and was content to spend my life with him. I trusted him, L. Maybe I was a fool," she paused here to harden her glare when he nodded in agreement. "But that doesn't really matter right now, I'm confused, tired, hurt and most of all angry and not just with Light. If you had been honest then things probably would have turned out differently. Instead you decided to see what happened while suspecting all along that Light was still Kira. He may not be the one committing the murders this time, but he sure as hell is controlling Misa to do whatever he wants. You suspected this yet you left me to deal with it all on my own. You say I had a choice, to go back to Reiji, but you're wrong," she sighed and looked up at him, he didn't seem at all surprised to be told he was wrong, he seemed the usual bored and blank detective she was used to. "You know full well that Light never had any intention of letting me leave him. I was manipulated by two people I had trusted very much."

"I never manipulated you, I simply let you make your own decisions," L pointed out.

Noriko shook her head, she felt incredibly lost and tired and wanted to curl up in a ball in the solitude of her apartment to think about things. "You don't get it. You may not have been around to manipulate me, but you're a freaking genius, L, you had to have known what the most likely outcome for me was. My problem is that if you cared about me at all, you wouldn't have left me with Light. I'm going to my room," she muttered.

At first, he had no intention of following her, but in the end, he did, barely making it to her door before she could close it on him and lock him out.

Shaking her head, Noriko heaved a sigh and let L follow her in. Ignoring her guest to the best of her abilities, she walked to the kitchen in search of something to eat. She was in need of some comfort food and some soothing tea. A small smile lifted her lips when she saw that there was a cake in her fridge. A carrot cake, her favorite, something that Watari knew. Pulling the cake from the fridge, she set in on the counter.

Putting a pot of water on the stove to boil so that she could make some hot green tea, she got two plates out of the cupboard. The cake was already cut and all she had to do was move a slice on to each plate. The tea didn't take long to boil and she pulled the kettle from the heat, setting aside and grabbing a little round silver serving tray that Watari had left on the counter. Apparently he figured that she wouldn't end up being alone.

Putting the two slices of cake on the tray followed by the tea kettle, two cups, some honey for her and sugar for L as well as two spoons and forks, she made her way back to the living room. L was hunched up on her couch in his usual position, his feet on the cushions and his knees pulled into his chest. Without a word she set the tray down, put a piece of cake, a tea cup that she filled with steaming tea and some sugar in front of L and took a seat in the armchair across from the couch.

The detective didn't bother to question her, she was pouring her own tea and still ignoring him so he dug into the cake, making a sour face since carrot cake was not among his favorites. It just wasn't sweet enough for his tastes, he settled for pouring a bunch of sugar into his tea, not failing to hear Noriko's quiet snort of disapproval as he did so.

It was when she was about half way through her piece of cake that Noriko jolted, suddenly realizing what had happened in the hall. She blinked, unconsciously bring her fingers to her lips while L watched her quizzically.

"Is something wrong with the cake? Aside from the fact that it's not sweet enough," L grumbled.

Blinking, she turned to the dark eyed man. "You kissed me."

L looked up from his thick tea and met her eyes with playful amusement. "Yes, I would have thought that was fairly obvious. Even for Nori-san."

Growling under her breath, she narrowed her green eyes. "Why?"

Setting his tea cup down, L scratched lazily at his mess of black hair, looking up at the ceiling like he was contemplating the reasons why she was so dense. Noticing the look in his eyes, though she could tell he was simply playing with her, Noriko narrowed her eyes further.

"I would think that would be fairly obvious too," he mumbled finally, finally meeting her eyes once again.

Noriko jolted again, she wasn't used to seeing much emotion in the obsidian pools that were staring at her, she hadn't even thought that L was capable of much outside of the few childish emotions she had seen him display. It seemed she had been wrong because in his eyes now was something that she had seen in the eyes of both Light and Reiji in the past, however it didn't stay in his eyes as long as it had in theirs. Though the look was fleeting, Noriko blushed against her own will and grumbled, "Eat your damn cake."

"That's not-"

"Very nice, yes I know," Noriko cut in, taking a large bite of her own cake.

"I don't appreciate-"

"Being interrupted? Yeah, I know that too."

"Nori-san is being-"

"Annoying? Mean? So what?"

"I think Nori-san forgets what I am capable of," L stated.

Munching on a mouthful of cake, Noriko looked up and shook her head. "No, I didn't forget that you're a pervert."

Not having expected that response, L dropped his fork that he had been holding with two fingers and his piece of cake tumbled onto the table. He stared at the piece of cake with a frown before scratching at the side of his head thoughtfully. "I am not a pervert."

"Uh huh," she replied around another mouthful of cake. "Then why did you try to fondle me on Halloween? I mean you even made me fall on top of you."

"I didn't make Nori-san fall. You're not very graceful, you fell on your own. And I was reaching for my candy not...anything else. I think Nori-san is the pervert."

She nearly spat out the tea she was sipping when he had retorted. "Excuse me," she asked in disbelief.

"You fell on top of me and you kissed me after that. Nori-san is the pervert, not me," he explained. It was obvious he was happy with this explanation and quite proud of himself when he popped another forkful of cake into his mouth and looked up to meet Noriko's green eyes challengingly.

At the mention of her kissing him, she flushed. She had actually forgotten about that. "Yeah, well who was the one who attacked me in the hall earlier?"

"I didn't attack you. I kissed you," he corrected.

"For no reason and without warning, that makes you a pervert," Noriko retorted stubbornly.

"It wasn't for no reason."

"Oh, shut up," Noriko mumbled childishly. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Then you shouldn't have brought it up."

"I said shut up."

"I was only saying-"

"Shut up."

"Stop inter-"

"Shut up."

"Nori-san is-"

"Shut up."

Their games continued a few minutes longer and though the both of them didn't bother looking at each other, they were both grinning like school kids. It was fun for the both of them to be together again, they had enjoyed the time that they had gotten to spend together in the past while working together and it had never seemed like work. For L Noriko was a distraction, a welcome one and a reminder that even though he hadn't thought himself to be capable of feeling emotions such as love that he was only human and it was part of human nature to fall in love. And for Noriko he was someone that she would never be able to understand but that she would always have a place in her heart for. How big or small that piece was remained to be seen.

"I've been meaning to ask," Noriko spoke up the following day when she and L found themselves back in the investigation room. L was busy looking over some maps of the area and Noriko was pretty much just twiddling her thumbs and surfing the internet. "Have you and Watari been able to see my dad since the time you both 'died'?"

"Yes," L replied blankly, not taking his attention from the computer screen.

"Well that explains why I haven't seen him in months," she murmured to herself, plopping her chin into her palm and going back to her computer.

"Did you miss me," her father cooed, suddenly popping up beside her and leaning his head down to block her vision of the screen.

"Nope. It was nice not being haunted by my overly enthusiastic dead dad." Her expression never changed, something that seemed to disappoint her father since he was now pouting at her.

L's voice interrupted before Kiyoshi had a chance to whine about Noriko's treatment of him. "Watari," he said, pushing the button on the screen that would allow him to speak with the older man in another room.

"Yes, L." The man's familiar voice replied.

"I think I have found a suitable location in which to kill Nori-san."

"Excuse me," Noriko and her father both inquired loudly, eyes widening.

"At least there is no doubt that you two are related," L muttered when he looked over at the stunned father and daughter.

"Perhaps you should rephrase your statement," Watari suggested humorously. "I believe what you mean was you found a place to stage Noriko's death, correct?"

L looked mildly irritated by Watari's suggestion and stared stubbornly at the W on the computer screen. "Yes, of course that's what I meant."

"Where," Noriko and Kiyoshi asked in sync, Noriko casting a quick glare at her father when he flashed her a bright, lopsided smile.

"Here," he answered monotonously, pointing out a spot on the map on his computer screen.

Not being able to see what he was talking about from where she sat, she stood up and leaned over the back of his chair. Her father followed, leaning over the other side and grinning at L when he gave him a small unhappy glare.

"Why are you glaring at me," Kiyoshi pouted. "Noriko's leaning over you too."

"Yes, but I happen to like Nori-san," L replied blandly.

"I know," Kiyoshi sang happily.

Noriko rolled her eyes and ignored the two men, studying the map in front of her. "I'm not really sure where this is," she admitted.

"It's an abandoned sanitation plant," L answered. "It was considered out dated and shut down, it was replaced with a newer more high tech plant further up the river."

"And just what are your plans?"

"The plant is on a small piece of land that is divided from town by a small river, there is a bridge that connects them and it is supposed to be quite sturdy. It also doesn't have any foot or vehicular traffic so no one else will be inadvertently hurt or involved. The river is quite deep, but usually calm. We will have the meeting on the bridge. You will be inside a car in the middle of the bridge, it will be set up with explosives."

"Oh joy," Noriko grumbled.

Ignoring her, L continued with his explanation. "Mello will be a few yards away, with the remote for the explosives in the car. It is likely that Mr Yagami and Light will be the ones to come to the meeting since Light will want to be there when you get released. This is a good thing, he'll see your death with his own eyes and won't be able to refute it. Mello will not hand you over however, instead he will insist that the authenticity of the notebook is proven by requesting that a name of a death row inmate be written down. Mr Yagami will never agree to do such a thing and I doubt that Light would, especially if you beg him not to."

"I don't wanna beg that bastard for anything," she muttered, ignoring the look she got for once again interrupting L.

"Mello will become agitated-"

"That's nothing new," Matt piped up, causing everyone to turn and look at him, though he only noticed Noriko and L since he wasn't able to see Noriko's dad. "Mel's always in a bad mood."

"Shut up Matt," the mentioned blond snapped, following behind his copper headed friend.

"See," Matt said, grinning. Sauntering over to Noriko, he put an arm around her shoulder, ignoring her lifted brow and studied the map on the computer. "So that's where it's all gonna go down, huh?"

"Yes, Matt, this is where we will stage Nori-san's death," L answered robotically, it was obvious he wasn't happy with the constant interruptions, he was sulking ever so slightly. "As I was saying, Mello will become agitated by Mr Yagami and Light's refusal to prove the authenticity of the Death Note. There will be a warning explosion, not in the car itself, but outside of it. This will provide some smoke cover so that it is impossible to see you get out of the car before that too is blown up."

"Just so you know, you're really not selling me on this whole faking my death thing at the moment," Noriko said blandly.

"Don't worry, precious, we won't let anything happen to you," Matt chortled, grinning at her before turning to Mello who was lazily sitting on the couch with his feet up on the table. "Isn't that right, Mel?"

"Whatever."

"That's very reassuring," Noriko replied sarcastically, shaking Matt's arm off of her shoulder. "Let me guess the rest, using the smoke as cover as well as the following explosion I dive into the water and swim to safety?"

"Is that going to be a problem, Nori-san?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure I've seen this whole thing in a movie before. Couldn't you come up with anything better," Noriko retorted smirking at L when he gave her a dry look.

"Well I suppose Mel and I should go scope this place out, get an idea what the lay of the land is and all," Matt suggested, putting his hands behind his head and walking to where Mello sat, kicking his legs off the table and ignoring the sneer he received. "Lets go."

"Are you two even old enough to drive," Noriko asked.

"No, but who cares," Matt called back. "We're geniuses."

"Somehow the thought of those two being geniuses is a little frightening," she mumbled to herself. "You sure about this, L? Even though it's a pretty simplistic plan, it could still be dangerous. What if it's not just Mr Yagami and Light? Or what if Mr Yagami or Light actually do write a name in the notebook to prove it's real?"

"There's no way that either one of them will write in the notebook, it goes against Mr Yagami's principals and if he is the one holding it then he won't allow Light to write in it either."

"How are you going to get the notebook by the way? You only went over my fake death scene, but not how you would get the notebook," she pointed out.

"Mello will retrieve it in the commotion caused by the explosion."

"Oh... Hey, L?"

He remained silent, figuring she would continue on her own.

"I'll just be going now," Kiyoshi said to no one in particular. He faded away into nothingness a moment later.

"I'm just curious," Noriko began. "But this plan does seem very simple, especially for something you cooked up in that insane head of yours. Is there a reason?"

At first it didn't appear that he had any intention of replying, he didn't look at her, but stared blankly at the computer screen and he began to nibble on the tip of his thumb distractedly. When he did answer, he started off by keeping his eyes off of her while she stood next to him, leaning into the desk to stare down at him with her brilliant green eyes. "I don't want to risk Nori-san getting injured. The simpler the better, it leaves less room for error."

"I see," she sighed. "One more question and I leave you alone. Just what am I to you, L?"

This time he did look up at her and pulled his thumb away from his lips. By the look in his eyes, Noriko expected some sort of deep answer or admission of love, what she got was instead was, "Nori-san is pretty. Especially when being dense."

"I'm not talking to you anymore," Noriko snapped in exasperation. Sure she had an idea about the reasons why L didn't want her to be hurt, it was the same reason he had kissed her. He liked her, but it was something that she wanted confirmation of because it was different to be told something even though a person's action might have implied the same meaning. Stalking back to her seat, she plopped down in her chair and went back to poking around the internet.

"Nori-san is also pretty when she's angry."

"Oh, shut up L."

Hello my pretties! This chapter may still be a little short for some of you, but at least I didn't make you wait like six months for it... Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it wasn't too boring or dull. There will be some action in the next one though.

Please review!