KIRA
By inner seLf
I am so happy that I am writing this, tough I have homework. I AM GOING TO GET THIS UP BY HALLOWEEN. I am throwing any Halloween spirit I may bear into this chapter because all my friends think there is no point in scary movies/scary things in general/ blah. How dare they?!
Chapter Three: Tragedy
Hermione awoke with a start. She glanced in both directions, eyes wide. She knew she was not in her room. She felt something warm around her waist and found that it was an arm—a man's arm.
Light had fallen asleep next to her. She could not help but think of how sweet the action was. She gently moved his arm to his side. She then flipped the covers off and wrapped them around Light, thinking that if he slept one minuter (A/N: spell check believed that to be a word.) without some he might catch cold. Jumping up from the bed, she dashed as stealthily as she could out of the door and into her parent's house. If only she was a good gambler, she could bet a million euros she was in deep… trouble.
As quietly as she could, Hermione shut her front door. She saw when she turned around, however, that her actions were futile. A whole crowd of people could be found in her living room, a pair of which she did not consider welcome.
Not noticing her two best friends, she pulled out her wand and aimed it at the heart of the blonde man, not caring that the son was pointing his own right back at her. Lupin, who happened to be the last member in the group, interceded the bout, and turned to face Hermione.
"It's alright. Calm down. Put that away," Lupin asked.
She did as she was told and stood there dumbstruck. She still kept her eyes on the Malfoy father and son. "Why are they here?" She asked.
"The real question is, Granger, why were you not here? I believe seven is too early for people to be about socializing with the neighbors." Draco, to her displeasure, answered her question with one of his own.
She turned away, pouting, with a tinge of pink gracing her cheeks.
Remus explains, "We are here to escort you and Jimmy to the Burrow. The Malfoys are here under their first Order mission. Did you not remember?"
Ron ends his silence and adds, "Hell, if you had not shown up any sooner we would have sent out a search party!"
Hermione utters Ron and Harry's aliases as she glides over to them and grabs them in a group hug. "It is so good to see you guys."
Harry speaks. "Even your parents were worried. You took off without telling them. They left this note saying they went to look for you."
Suddenly the door opened and slammed. Her parents came in with her boyfriend in tow. "Well, darling," her mother begins, "this young gentleman has informed me that you were here. He told us that you had spent the night over at his house."
Harry and Ron's ears perked up at Mrs. Granger's works, assuming the worst. Remus did not give away his opinion, but Lucius' eyebrow rose and Draco's smirk only widened. To put their fears (and hopes) to rest, Hermione explained, believing in some respects what she said was the truth, "He's a cop, mom. We didn't do anything."
When both her parent's brought a hand to their chins in a thinking pose, Light added to her story, "I do not believe we have met before, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. I am Light Yagami. I have recently moved here from Shibuya Prefecture in the Kanto Region of Japan. It is an honor to meet you," he pauses and looks further into the room. "I am sorry to intrude on you when you have guests. Joan was a little distracted the other day and failed to alert me."
The parents looked at each other and back to Light. "Are you really a cop?"
Light takes the moment to show them his badge. "My father was working on the Kira case when the head investigator, "L," decided he wanted to target me. After going through a series of trials to prove my innocence, they offered me a part of the case," he grins and adds, "luckily, I have not been killed off yet." Harry and Ron relax their guard a bit with their newfound respect of her boyfriend. He seemed alright… for a guy who was dating their best friend without their knowledge of it.
"I guess I will be leaving now. I need to start working within the hour," he walks over to Hermione and plants a chaste kiss on her lips. "Sayonara, Joan-chan." He gave her one last grin as she regained some composure before leaving.
"What was that about, Her—" Hermione cuts Ron off before he can finish.
"It was just a kiss, Red, so do not go giving out our real names because of it." She takes a deep breath and turns to Remus. "Look, I cannot leave at the moment. There is something important that I need to do."
"We can wait on you," Remus reasons.
"It might take a while."
"We have time. Besides, I do not believe either Jimmy or Red want to leave after that episode."
Hermione sighs and relents. "Okay. How about I make you guys something to eat? Then I need to get to work…" She busies herself in the kitchen for fifteen minutes and then sets places for six, including herself.
"So," Hermione starts, "how did they become good guys."
Ron answers, "Simple. The ferrets agreed to do undercover jobs for the Order so long as the older one got out of Azkaban."
Harry adds, "--no one at Azkaban is allowed to know of his missing presence. Which is why the little ferret is under our protection and his mum is hidden at her sister Andromeda's safe house."
"Gee, Potter, you and your King never get tired of relaying that story, do you?"
"Well, someone has to do it, and what better way is there to hurt your pride than that?"
With a scowl, he grabs the first plate of eggs and toast with a barely audible 'thank-you' and starts jamming his toast.
"So what was it that you needed to do, Her—"
"Joan."
"What."
"Even though it may not look like anyone is around, please call me Joan."
Harry ruffles his hair and lets out an aggravated sigh, "Remus, would you do the honors as to silence the house from the outside world?"
With a swish and flick, he recited an incantation that left deaf ears to all beyond the walls. At that moment, Light stealthily left the peculiar event. What was it about this Hermione girl that made her so different? Why were there people dressed up in such bizarre clothing?
"Thanks a lot, Remus. Now we can back to talking without caution on our every word."
Hermione explains, "I know I have not contacted either of you since three weeks ago. I have been terrible busy preparing for this day and on top of that your visit must have slipped my mind."
Draco asks, "What do you mean by this day? What could be so important in your boring life?"
"Well, neither you nor Ron would know much of what is going on in the Muggle World. It is only understandable."
His eyes narrow a hair. "Are you implying something about inferiority, Granger?"
"Do I look like the kind of person who would believe she to be more equal than one of her friends? I am saying that you are misinformed. I would have to include Harry in this group as well. There were not many clues for him to pick up from the Dursleys."
Harry chuckles. "Yea, the Dursleys have banned everything Kira from our household. I only found out when I asked them after receiving your letter. His name is as unmentionable as the Wizarding World!"
This statement attracted the attention of the adults.
"Do not tell me that there is another psychotic wizard plaguing your pathetic Muggle World," Lucius sneers.
"No. He is a muggle," she corrects herself after Draco, for the first time in his life, spews tea from his mouth, "at least I think he is. I watched his movements for more than a month at the beginning of the summer. Every time he kills, it is of an unnatural heart attack. Not once has the Ministry mentioned him or covered up one of his victim's deaths with a false story of a gas leakage."
"Are you serious?! Are you telling me that this nutter has been killing people by using some sort of heart-stopping spell?!" Ron exclaims.
She shakes her head. "I do not know if it is a spell or not—"
"—IT HAS TO BE!" Ron interrupts.
Remus takes his turn to speak. "Hermione, what do you know of this 'Kira' character? What clues has the law enforcement or the media given?"
"Oh, Remus, how can I start? The man thinks he is God! He takes the law into his own hands by killing the criminals by the dozens and anyone who stands in his way!" She sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. "The media only announces his 'judgments.' His murders have been mostly in Japan but an increasing amount of them have been from England. That is why I was contacted. A former classmate of mine needs me to assist in a plan to locate his whereabouts."
"Classmate?" Ron asks.
"Before I went to Hogwarts, my exceptional intelligence had been spotted and I was put into a private school for the extremely gifted in Essex. (A/N: I dunno where it really is, but it is in England.) I schooled with all the greatest minds. From this school, a single student is chosen to lead a life as the prestigious detective "L.'"
Remus, intrigued, inquires, "Where is this "L" now?"
Hermione pauses. "He is dead. Kira killed him."
"D-dead? You mean to say that Kira is more brilliant than the smartest guy at that academy?"
"L gave us a great head start. He determined the conditions of Kira's 'spell.' He must know the name and face of the person he kills. He gets the two from the media."
"Bloody hell."
"Yes, but there is a tie for who will become the successor. This guy that I am helping, "Near" he is called, is one of the two." She looks around at the plates on the table. "If everyone is done I would like to clear the table. After that I will have an hour to finish preparing for my task."
Both Harry and Ron say, "We'll help, 'Mione."
Hermione did not let Ron touch anything, but allowed Harry to turn on the television and set it to the correct channel. The other three sat on one of the couches. She was done preparing at 9:50; twenty minutes until the fake broadcasting. Hermione directed Harry and Ron to grab a chair from the kitchen. "I do not want anyone to bother me. I need it to be absolutely quiet; no questions asked or I will throw you out. Is that clear?"
Though everyone gave her their silent agreement, Hermione quickly changed her mind. "Actually, Remus, do you think it would be possible to silence everyone? I cannot afford to mess this up." He did as was asked.
The show would begin in three minutes. Hermione checked to make sure all the override switches for her local news channels were ready. Placed her finger over the on switch of her microphone and waited.
The scene was set up to look like a parliamentary conference. The reason was to show that it was clear Kira had moved on to England. The woman speaker's was in a terrible rage, calling out Kira because no other members were foolish enough for the job.
"…Kira, why do you believe you can continue to hide yourself like this?" Hermione's decoy questioned. "You have killed so many good people in order to do what? Your perfect world is still non-existent. It is wrong to take our work into your hands. Stop what you are doing and turn yourself in to the police. We will take over handling the criminals, but you must repent for your own sins…!" She looked as if she was ready to murder the man she was calling out.
Hermione forgot to breathe as she counted the minutes that the woman had been on the tele. It had been five minutes and nothing had happened. She had sat up and sighed with relief of Kira not being in her present county when all of a sudden there was a chaotic scene erupting over the scene. The broadcaster had taken some time struggling to get a better picture of the scene. Finally, when he was able to regain his composure, Hermione was able to see that the woman was convulsing on the ground.
Hermione had already flipped the override switches when woman's eyes glazed. In the background, the HERA logo came onto the news headline. The newsflash on the bottom would write off what she was to say, but she was told to memorize her speech by heart in case.
"You fell for my plans again, Kira. Shame on you. "Though it was said that this was a national broadcast, it only took place locally…Don't worry, the (woman) was secretly sentenced to death at this time this morning." Remember who said that? As for me, I am filled with pride to know that I am another step closer to finding you. I will make sure that the world forgets you ever existed. I will not defeat you with vengeance. I live by justice. No revenge to me would be sweeter. I will defeat you in a fair game and prove to you that L was and still is justice—!"
Hermione paused and listened. She tested the mike, but her voice would not project from the conference on the television. She saw the headlines instantaneously switch to KIRA propaganda. And then his voice came.
"Justice? What, are we going to try this game again? I won, L. You are dead. Tell your followers that you were wrong and the power to judge this world has been left to me. Oh, and one more thing: Tell that cop sent from Shibuya to stop following me. He might get himself AND his little girlfriend killed."
The broadcast ended and Hermione hastily shut off all her equiptment. All she wanted to do was apparate next door, but she knew she had to contact Near. She dialed the private line with her fingers fumbling over buttons. The man on the line directed her to a lady who directed her call to Near.
"I was me. Joan; H.G."
"Yes, I had a feeling he was in your section. The information you gathered for us is indescribably valuable. I will call you if you are ever needed."
"Wait. Do you think it would be possible to alert me if there is a change in the numbers?"
"If anything happens that might endanger you, I will call. Don't worry."
She did not get the chance to alert him of the unusual broadcast. Near blindly assumed that it would be a total failure or success; he did not have time to pick up any details. This was the one flaw with using so many mediators.
That is what she believed. She forgot that she was seeing his actions in the grunt's point-of-view. Little did she know that Near had good reason to suspect her area. He, like L, did not fully trust Light Yagami.
She flung the phone onto the couch. Her hand then froze. A piercing scream had emerged from next door. At first her legs would not move, but the adrenaline got moving and she busted out of her door and barged into her boyfriend's house. There she saw the most horrific sight of her life. Her knees buckled and she crawled over to him. She checked every pulse point she could find. It was no use trying to stop the tears overflowing from her eyes. She let out a heart wrenching scream as she was pulled away from her boyfriend by Harry and Ron. Eyes wide and mouth hanging open was her boyfriend, Light, who had ceased all movement not long before…
I REALLY hope I am getting better at scenes like these. I love making stuff like this. Now if you will excuse me, it is Oct. 30, 8pm. I need to spend the rest of my waking hours doing homework, only to have the momentary break that sleep provides until I wake and start the process all over again. I hope you do not mind if you don't hear from me for a while.
Please, Please, Please, Read and Review! Onegaishimasu!