Well, a good struggle with this site later and we have the first chapter of LLAG. I would have posted it with the prologue, but I'm still learning the ropes with this particular site. Anyway, here's where this story really gets started; after this, you can expect weekly updates. I hope you enjoy.
(I feel like me not owning death note should be a given, but just in case: I don't)
Eri woke on the morning of the morning of October 24th with a bad taste in her mouth and a pounding headache. And the Shinigami staring at her from his perch at the window opposite her bed did nothing to improve her mood. She sat up, running a hand through her sleep-mussed ebony hair and giving aforementioned god of death a bleary glare.
"Uller, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't. Watch. Me. Sleep. It's super creepy, and I'm pretty sure it's contributed to a couple nightmares."
Uller's already bedraggled appearance seemed to droop further under her glare. "I was making sure you were safe."
Eri scoffed and stumbled out of bed, crossing to her dresser and rooting around for her school clothes, which, as usual were proving strangely elusive among her collection of jeans and hoodies. "I get that living for hundreds of years could make anyones memory spotty, but even you should remember this." She pulled at the pendant she'd worn for the last three years, the burnished bronze disc glinting as a sunbeam caught the inverse pentagram inscribed on its surface, "As long as our pact holds, I have a shinigami heart. The only way something's going to happen to me is if my time runs out, and since you refuse to tell me when that's going to be… I don't think there's a point in worrying."
She turned and tossed a tank top at him, which passed through his loosely bandaged chest as though it was smoke.
"Now get out. I need to get dressed for school and you being here only ups the creep factor."
The shinigami shrugged and passed through the door, probably going to pout in the kitchen. Eri was used to his fits of melancholy and paid him no mind other than to call; "Don't eat all the breakfast cereal!" at his back as he went. He either didn't hear her or ignored her, but she strongly suspected the latter. 'Probably going to give me the silent treatment.. sulky shinigami.'
After dressing and pulling a section of her unruly hair into a ponytail, she knelt and reached under the dresser, pressing her fingertips against the smooth wood. As she did, a section of the bottom fell away, revealing a thin black notebook. Eri flipped past the only marked page to the next, tearing it out and slipping the paper into her jacket, carefully replacing the notebook in its hiding place.
'Better safe then sorry.'
She tramped down the creaking, dusty steps from her room to the equally dismal kitchen, where her aunt sat in one of the mismatched chairs at the kitchen table. Isuzu Yamazaki looked exactly as she always did, flyaway grey-black hair, threadbare green shawl clutched around her bony shoulders, pale fingers laced around a mug of tea. She didn't speak when Eri entered the kitchen, and Eri was just beginning to think it might actually turn out to be a good day when her aunt turned her dark, rapidly shifting eyes on the other inhabitant of the house.
"Where are you going?" she asked, her reedy voice breaking the silence in the kitchen like a stone cracking glass.
Eri sighed and plastered on a smile before turning from the cabinet where she'd been rooting around for the breakfast cereal and facing her aunt. "To school, Isuzu, like I do almost everyday, remember?"
Her aunt frowned, glassy eyes focused on a point behind Eri's shoulder. "Is your friend coming with you? He should, they told me a storm is coming."
Eri almost laughed at that, " I'm sure they did. Sure I'll bring him along, he keeps me company on the walk." She abandoned the search for cereal and grabbed a peach off the counter. "I'm off, dont freak out the neighbors while I'm gone."
She was out the door before she could hear if she'd gotten a reply. It was easier to play into Isuzu's delusions then to argue with her, but that didn't mean she wanted to spend her morning talking to someone who might as well be on another planet.
They walked in silence for several minutes, interjected only by the crunching of Eri's impromptu breakfast. Uller following like a bedraggled patchwork shadow. She finished and tossed the pit behind her, shooting the silent shinigami a curious look.
"You're awfully quiet today, more than usual, I mean. Something on your mind?" She asked, more out of boredom then actual desire to know.
He tugged at the loose stitches holding his leathery skin, "Did you bring the notebook?"
Eri shook her head and tapped her index finger just above her heart, "Nope. I've got a page stashed though, just in case. Why? It's not like I ever use it."
The shinigami shrugged his massive shoulders. "Isuzu is right. I don't know exactly why but something feels…. wrong. You should be careful."
Eri rolled her eyes, Unable to believe they were having this conversation. "Ok, first off; she's crazy and we both know it. 'My friend' doesn't even mean you, it's some kind of 'evil presence' that follows me around or something, and don't even get me started on the whole 'They tell me things' thing." she grinned and reached up to brush her fingers across the pendant at her throat, "Besides, I'll be fine, you made sure of that yourself. Now shut up for a bit, I want to go over my notes for english and you're distracting me."
The next few hours of school where the definition of uneventful, and Eri could have cried with relief upon entering her last class of the day to find Light sitting in his usual spot by the window. She took her usual place to his right and caught his attention with a sharp prod to the arm.
"Hey Light, did you get the results of the national exam back yet? I wanna see how badly you crushed the rest of us in the rankings.''
Light smiled in his signature charming manner and reached into his bag, removing an official looking piece of paper and handing it into her eagerly outstretched hands, "Well, I hope I dont dissapoint."
Eri barely glanced at it before tossing it back on his desk and heaving a dramatic sigh. "First in the Nation, I should have guessed. I dont know why the rest of us even try…" she trailed off and mimed wiping away a tear.
Light chuckled, "What did you get then?"
"31st, not great but nothing to get upset about." she said, pulling out her own scores and handing them to him.
"You always underestimate yourself Eri, for the almost dangerous lack of studying you do, these scores are actually pretty amazing.' He said, a warmth in his voice he usually reserved for getting things from the female teachers.
Eri rolled her eyes, "Your particular brand of flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Yagami, but not with me. Why don't you try it out on them?" She gestured towards the back of the classroom, where a group of girls were making a valiant effort to set her on fire with only the force of their glares. "I know they'd appreciate it, and it might keep them from trying to make me spontaneously combust for a day or so."
Light shook his head and leaned back in his chair, his smile fading to give way to an almost irritated look. "I'm not dating anyone until the exams are over. Although, considering my scores maybe I shouldn't be worried… after all, nothing ever really changes..." He trailed off, eyes wandering to the window.
Eri frowned and waved a hand in front of her friends face, "Hey, earth to Light!' She raised a quizzical eyebrow, "What's with you? I'd have thought you'd be happy, you know, with your genius confirmed by the nation and all."
When Light looked back at her, the glare had been replaced by a curiously blank stare that made her feel slightly uneasy.
"Doesn't it bother you that nothing ever changes?" He stated in the strange, edged tone she only ever heard when they talked about their future as detectives. "Every day it's the same thing. The same news on permanent repeat. It's so… boring." He shifted to stare out the window again, resting his chin against his hand.
Eri felt the same unease from before prickle over her skin. She'd discussed things like this with Light before but never outside their midnight 'rant-about-our-problems' conversations they had when she managed to escape to his place for a hour or so. He didn't often drop his happy-go-lucky honor student thing in public, and she wasn't sure she liked how cold his expression had become. "I guess…" She said cautiously, "What brought this on?"
Light turned back to her, usual smile firmly in place. "It's nothing, just thinking out loud."
After parting ways with Light at the school, Eri began the walk home, Uller floating along beside her. The remainder of class had actually improved her mood, with any misgivings quickly erased by Light's natural ability to put people at ease. Even Eri wasn't entirely immune to his charm, though after 10 years she'd become fairly used to it. She probably wouldn't have given her strange day a second thought, had Uller not been staring at her with a bit more than his usual intensity.
Eri could feel his single eye burning a hole in the back of her head as she walked, but managed to hold back her curiosity for a whole seven minutes before it got the better of her, just to spite him. "Alright, I've had enough of everyone being weird today. Quit staring at me and tell me what the problem is so we don't have to talk about it at home, that place has enough people that 'talk to themselves'."
Uller growled lowly, his voice like distant thunder, "Today, while you were in class… I felt the presence of another Shinigami."
Eri stopped dead, her eyes widening in shock. She whipped around and grabbed the death god's twisted forearms, "What?! Now?! Here in Japan?!" She said, her voice taught with tightly controlled panic.
He nodded, floppy patchwork hat falling forward slightly as he did, "Today, yes. I could sense them for a brief time before they returned to the Shinigami Realm. I waited because I suspected you would react poorly to-" He was abruptly cut off by a sharp shove from Eri, though it was more startling than effective in moving his hulking frame.
"Of course I'd react 'poorly'!" She spat, struggling to keep her tone level, "Do you at least know if they dropped a Death Note? Did you decide to hold on to that information too?!"
Uller's semi-sewn lips twisted into an almost sheepish grimace. "I am… Not certain."
Eri closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath in an attempt to calm herself. When she no longer felt the urge to pull out the Death Note and murder someone, she spoke; "Ok, then this may not be as bad as we think. We'll just have to keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the next few days." She looked up and fixed him with a piercing glare. " Keep me informed if you see anything else. If there's another notebook user out there, I want to know about them before they know about me; do you understand?"
Uller inclined his head, "Understood."
"Good." She turned to continue down the street, "I'm glad I don't have to explain to you how serious this is. Now, lets get home become the universe can throw anything else our way."
Despite her brave words, a sense of foreboding had settled in Eri's stomach that the walk home did nothing to dissipate.
When Eri entered the living room, Isuzu was in her usual spot for the evening, curled on the couch and staring at the TV; her eyes wide and her boney fingers clutching the edges of her shawl like a vice. Her mouth moved without sound, and she didn't acknowledge Eri when her niece entered. Eri wondered if announcing her presence was even worth the trouble when her aunt was like this.
"I'm home." She said dully, deciding it was better then letting her aunt continue to mutter at the TV all night.
Isuzu didn't reply, instead looking at her with the same confused/slightly frightened expression she always wore around Eri since the day the girl had arrived. Eri crossed to the couch and sat down beside her, fixing her gaze to the screen because it was preferable to eye contact. "School was great, thanks for asking. What's happening on the news?"
Isuzu seemed to realize she'd been watching the news before Eri's arrival, her eyes snapping back to the screen and muttering a soft, "Hostage situation." before falling silent.
Knowing that was all she was going to get, Eri turned her full attention to the dark-haired reporter on the screen.
"The same assailant who attacked a busy shopping district in Shinjuku yesterday has struck again, taking eight people hostage at this daycare center. His captives include both children and teachers. The police have now identified the suspect as 42 year old Kuro Otoharada, currently unemployed. The police expect negotiations to begin immediately."
Eri felt disgust rise in her throat like bile; her fingers twitching involuntarily towards the fragment of the note still hidden in her jacket. 'Light's right, everyday we have to deal with people like this...' She pulled her hand back and clenched her fingers into the arm of the couch, 'Forget it, this guy will get his. It's not up to me to start killing whoever I think deserves it, I mean, if there was ever a way to get caught…'
The view changed to the newsroom, and Eri's attention and thoughts wandered back to the events of the day. 'Is it possible another Death Note found its way to the human realm? It's not probable but even so…' She rubbed her eyes in an attempt to ease the headache she felt developing behind them. 'Don't jump to conclusions Eri, just have Uller keep an eye out for anything suspicious and-" She was jolted from her thoughts by a sudden shout from the female news anchor on screen.
"Wait! We're seeing something here, it looks like movement at the front entrance."
"The hostages are coming out, and they all look to be unharmed! The special forces are taking action, they're moving in! We dont know yet if the suspect's been arrested." The reporter paused, putting his hand to his earpiece as his eyes went wide, "Huh? Yes? Ok! We now have confirmation; the suspect has been found dead inside, I repeat, the suspect has been found dead!'
Eri felt as if all the blood had drained from her body in the space of that moment. Her heart pounded frantically against her ribs as she stared, riveted, hoping against hope that he'd been shot, stabbed, fallen and cracked his head open, anything but-
"Special forces are denying any allegations of anyone having shot the suspect."
"So it's possible he was feeling cornered, and decided to commit suicide?"
"Well according to the statements from the hostages, the suspect just suddenly collapsed…"
After that, the TV might as well have been on mute for all Eri heard. The sound of her own of her own breathing was thunderous to her as she stood, barely pausing to mumble something about going to bed early to her motionless aunt before sprinting to her darkened bedroom and slamming the door, collapsing against it. She drew her legs up to her chest and grasped them like a child.
"'That... was easier than expected."
Eri raised her head to meet Uller's gaze, which wasn't easy, even with the Shinigami sitting cross-legged a few feet away. Even sitting, he towered over the trembling girl.
Eri found she didn't have the energy to throw a sarcastic comment back at him. Instead, she let out a bitter laugh and let her chin drop against her knees, "Uller… Do you think it's possible that man wasn't killed by a Death Note? That maybe he committed suicide, like that reporter said?"
Uller blinked, his orange eye gleaming in the dimly lit room. "Considering the days events, that is unlikely."
She nodded in resigned agreement, tugging at a lock of hair hard enough that some of the strands tore. "I guess all I can do then is not panic. Panic more, I mean." She gave him a weak smile, "Besides, I can't be killed, so whats the big whoop?"
"You've found loopholes in the Death Note's rules before. You are afraid someone else could do the same." Uller said, his voice unchanging.
Her shaky smile became a grimace, "You know me so well..."
They were silent for several minutes, for how long exactly, Eri couldn't tell. But when the desire to scream in frustration had passed, she reached out and grabbed Uller's skeletal hand in her own, prompting a surprised jolt from the Shinigami.
"I'm not going to die, Uller. And I'm not going to prison. I haven't used the note in almost 3 years, and I'm not going to drag up all the baggage that comes with it. I'm going to find out who this person is, and try and convince them to give up the note. But if I can't, if it becomes too big of a risk or I'm tempted to used the notebook again-" Her eyes lit with a sudden blaze of conviction;
"I want you to take all my memories of the Death Note."
Uller didn't reply, though it was obvious how badly he wanted to argue. Unable to muster the will to explain further, she released his hand and managed to stand despite the new shakiness her knees seemed to have acquired. Walking wordlessly to her bed and collapsing, fully clothed, onto it.
'I'll be fine, I'm probably blowing this whole thing out of proportion anyway...' she thought, closing her eyes, 'I'll find this person; I've got a plan. And if it doesn't work… I guess I'll run, I'm good at that.' She thought to herself, as her eyes closed and her heart beat began to slow.
It was a long time before she managed to sleep.