Hey guys, thanks for waiting so patiently for this chapter, it gave me a bit of trouble but I like they way it turned out overall. Also, its a long one, so I hope you enjoy.
Over the next six days, Eri found herself kept almost irritatingly busy; both with attempts to discover the identity of the second Death Note owner, and an increasingly frustrating lack of results. By the end of the sixth day, she was beginning to wonder if Uller could have made a mistake, but didn't voice it to him, as she suspected it would cause him to sulk, (He really was moody, even for a god of death). But even when he was in a good enough mood to help, they had only come up with a few speculations to go on, and they were weak leads at best.
Whoever had the Note was most likely in Japan, seeing as the hostage situation was only ever broadcasted inside Japan.
The broadcast killing had been the all important 'Lets see if this is just some stupid joke test', but the owner clearly hadn't been put off by taking a human life, considering how many more criminals had died over the past few days.
They either hadn't yet been contacted by a shinigami, or they didn't live anywhere near the Kanto region, seeing as Uller hadn't sensed or seen anything in his investigations of the area.
Eri almost felt lucky to have gained this much information, even if it was mainly guesswork. If she had to be honest with herself, the only reason she'd gotten this much was due in large part to how active the new user had been in the past few days alone. He or she had even gained a sort of 'fanbase' among the more opinionated forums, as well as a nickname.
'Kira the Savior...? Are these people serious?'
She had decided to watch the forums for signs of and possibly information on her elusive quarry, and the morning of day six found her staring in disbelief at her computer screen, finally having found a name to put to the lack of face she currently had. Eri leaned back in her chair and pressed her palms against her eyes, as if doing so would somehow make the situation less unbelievable. People were not only supporting this guy, they thought he was some kind of…. avenging angel or something.
Honestly, it made her wonder if she shouldn't worry so much about how people would feel if they found out about her Death Note. Clearly, some people were completely supportive of anonymous mass-murder.
Shaking off her bitter thoughts, Eri turned towards the window and gestured to Uller, who'd been sitting on the ledge, hunched and staring at the birds as if wondering how fast he'd have to be to catch one. "Uller, come here and take a look at this, would you? I think you'll get a kick out of it."
Said shinigami stood and ambled over, bending down crookedly to stare at the screen. "Kira… from the english term 'Killer'?" He muttered, sounding confused.
Eri snorted derisively, "Yeah, apparently people are totally willing to support murder by an unknown psychopath, but only on the internet. Go figure…"
Uller shrugged and reached up a twisted hand to tug at the fraying bandages swathing his jaw. "Humans are very strange…"
Eri felt her lips twitch slightly at his words. Sometimes, it seemed Uller had a better grasp on how people were then most humans she knew. She reached out and switched off her monitor, stretching languidly to rid herself of the kinks developed from hours of fruitless research. "You don't need to tell me. By the way, anything new on your end? I've been using the NPA passwords Light gave me to keep up with the investigation, but as of now they've got less information than we do."
"Nothing of note. The police haven't begun the investigation?"
Eri laughed, "Oh no, they have. Apparently interpol had some kind of big not-so-secret meeting to decide what to do about all these deaths. They just haven't come up with any results, from what I can tell, anyway." She stood, grabbing her school bag and starting for the door. She beckoned Uller impatiently as she went. "Come on, I want you with me today since this whole 'Search all of Japan until we get results' thing doesn't seem to be working. We'll pick it back up after the 37 day rule goes into effect and we know a shinigami is present. There's really no point in doing anything before then."
Uller cocked his head slightly, as if unsure he had heard her correctly, "With the current death rate, do you really think that's wise? from what we have seen so far, those people cannot afford 31 days." He spoke slowly, as if testing her reaction.
Eri felt a surge of anger at his words but refused to let it show, instead fixing him with a look that suggested he'd lost his mind. "Uller, I'm not doing this for them, you should know that. They're criminals and I honestly don't care one way or the other what happens to them. What I do care about is some lunatic with a god-complex running around with the only thing that could kill me." she tugged at her bangs involuntarily, "I've spent a lot of time being selfish in order to stay safe; I'm not going to start playing hero just because you think I should."
She'd meant for the last words to sound like a challenge of sorts, but they came with less conviction than she would have liked. Uller didn't reply, but the lookin his fire-orange eye made her feel as if she had confirmed some theory he'd been trying to test. She shouldered her way past him and down the stairs in an effort to shake off the feeling of unease that had settled over her since the discovery of the second Death Note user, but she found that the silence only drew her thoughts back to it. Eri needed answers, fast. Before anything else could get weirder than it already was.
She decided to forgo breakfast, though she gave Uller the last box of cereal to eat on the walk, if only to make sure he stayed quiet. She barely paused to shout a distracted goodbye to her aunt before escaping the house and setting off towards the school, crossing her fingers things would be simpler there then at home.
Eri didn't see Light upon arriving at school, but that wasn't that unusual as they only had a few classes together at the end of the day. Still, as she neared the end of her second-to-last period with no ideas on how to fix her current situation, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment that her hyper-intelligent friend wasn't the first person she'd seen. God knows he'd be the one to talk to about stuff like this.
'Who am I kidding? Light would already have this case half solved by now, he'd probably even know Kira's shoe size…' She mused, doodling absently on the edge of her desk, 'That'd be a fun conversation: Hey Light, remember those gang guys that killed my parents, then died mysteriously? Yeah, I did that with my magic-murder notebook! But wait, don't freak out, because now I think this other guy has one and can you please help me catch him?' She let her head drop to the desk with a groan. 'If our friendship has a limit, thats where it is. At magic-murder notebook.'
Had she been packing her bag instead of lost in thought, Eri might have realized the other headache in her life was creeping up behind her, or at least turned around before she was knocked from her chair by 90 pounds of multicolored hair and rabid enthusiasm.
"ERI!" An instantly recognizable voice shouted before she was pinned to the floor in a full body hug. When the room stopped spinning long enough for Eri to open her eyes and not immediately throw up, she found herself staring at the the red/blue streaked hair and wide goofy grin of Momoka Katsugi, her only human friend besides Light, and, if she was completely honest, the source of much of her non-murder notebook related stress.
"Oh- Hey Momoka." She wheezed, "How was Thailand? And can you please get off of me? I think I punctured a lung…"
Momoka pouted but got up and held out a ring-bedecked hand to help Eri to her feet, "Fiiiiiine… Why can't you just let me love you?"
"Its a health-hazard." Eri replied, grinning in spite of her words.
Momoka snorted and punched her lightly in the arm, "Baby." she turned on her heel and started out the door, dragging Eri behind her and speaking in a louder voice than was strictly necessary. "Thailand was cool, I guess. But my Grandma's place is sooooooo boring! And since Someone decided to be a weirdo and not txt me…" She trailed off, giving Eri a pointed look.
Eri attempted the best shrug she could while still being dragged at near breakneck speeds through the hall. "I was busy… Exams and stuff, you know how it is."
Momoka didn't seem convinced, "Really? So busy you didn't notice a serial killer popped up out of nowhere? And here I thought you'd be all over that heart-attack thing, aren't you supposed to be super into all that detective stuff?
"I am, but you're not. Why would I wanna bore you with stuff like that?" Eri said flippantly, wishing her friend would drop the subject, though with Momoka, that was unlikely.
"Wouldn't want to bore me with!-" Momoka began hotly, but then her eyes flashed in realization and a sly smile crossed her face. "Fine, I get it. If I had someone like Light Yagami to play detective with I wouldn't invite you either…"
Eri shoved her, feeling her cheeks redden at what her friend was suggesting, "Shut up, it's not like that and you know it, you only say stuff like that because you know it's weird."
Momoka grinned, her dark, kohl-rimmed eyes sparkling mischievously, "Your loss, that guy's kind of an ass but I can see why you hang out with him…"
"Momo, Is there a point to all this? Because I kinda have to get to class…." Eri said, hoping her friend would get the hint. Despite being happy Momoka was back from her vacation, She couldn't help but feel like if she let her drag her around any longer, she would end up with a dislocated shoulder.
Finally, they stopped outside of Eri's classroom and she was able to take a breath, Momoka watching in amusement as she panted. "Yeah, I was getting to that." she tapped Eri on the nose, " It's been more two weeks and we haven't even talked once. You can't hang out with no one but Light, you know, its not healthy. I'll let you get to class but I want you to promise me you'll call or txt or something, got it?
Eri sighed, knowing full well her friend would never let her get to class without a promise. "Fine, I promise. And could you at least try to be nice to Light next time you see him? I'm getting tired of being the mediator between you two."
Momoka grinned and shook her head, "Uh-uh, that guy may be cute, and he may be your friend but he weirds me out, and he thinks he's so much smarter than everyone."
"He is so much smarter than everyone."
"Semantics." Momoka said, waving her hand dismissively and turning to walk down the hall. She paused to shout; "Remember, call me!" over her shoulder before disappearing into the crowd of milling students, leaving Eri to stare after her, feeling slightly like she'd just been assaulted.
But then again, that was Momoka. She was a fiercely loyal friend, and had been since middle school, when an ill-advised fight and two weeks detention had brought them together. But Eri didn't feel close to ready to deal with her AND Kira at the same time. If given the choice, she almost felt she'd take Kira over an angry Momoka, at least with Kira she'd have a chance of winning…
She took a deep breath and sat down in her usual seat, running her hands through her hair and wishing the day would end so she could get back to what was really important. 'Why can't anything be easy…'
Suddenly, she was startled out of her thoughts by the touch of Uller's skeletal hand on her shoulder, realizing that she'd almost forgotten his presence in the Momoka whirlwind moments before. Biting her tongue to keep from yelping in surprise, she leaned back and angled her head back ever so slowly to let him know she was listening. His voice was low and grating, as if he was attempting to whisper.
"I have found the user of the second Death Note."
Eri felt all the warmth leave her body at once, as her previously whirring mind ground to a halt at his words. It couldn't be- not here- not now. She wasn't prepared, she hadn't thought anything though nearly enough, she didn't know if they had the eyes or if they'd- she cut off that thought before she could finish it and cause herself to hyperventilate. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl as she waited for Uller to continue, breath baited and body tense.
"There is a shinigami standing behind the boy in the doorway; Do you want me to let you see it?"
Eri felt her head jerk imperceptibly in the barest hint of a nod. She waited for a count of ten seconds before raising her head ever so slightly, as if in a dream, to meet the friendly brown eyes of Light Yagami.
He stood, silhouetted in the doorway, with a huge black and white Shinigami floating behind him. The creature in question seemed to notice her gaze, and its harlequin mouth split into a jagged grin that made her blood run cold.
"Oh." It said, burning yellow red eyes shining in amusement. "Now THIS is interesting…."
When Eri arrived home from school that day, she found her aunt had left the TV on. She couldn't bring herself to care enough to turn it off.
She had managed to distract Light from her shock at seeing the ghoulish shinigami floating behind him by being almost overly enthusiastic over the lesson, and while he had seemed suspicious for the first minute or so, it was quickly covered by his habitual natural charm. If Eri hadn't known better, she would have thought his good mood was a bit creepy. As she did know better, she found it extremely creepy.
It was clear within the first few minutes of talking to him that Light was different. Outwardly, he'd seemed much the same as always, cheerful, helpful, hardworking. But his eyes radiated a cold smugness with every word he spoke, and his words seemed oddly hollow, as if he'd been reading from a script. Just sitting with him had made Eri's skin crawl, and the grinning shinigami behind him hadn't helped matters.
she walked to the couch and sunk down onto it, staring at the TV without really seeing it and letting her thoughts swirl around her head like leaves in an autumn wind.
'Light Yagami is Kira.'
Even with having seen it with her own eyes, it seemed unbelievable. Eri had a plan, but seeing that creature floating behind Light had all but made it evaporate on the spot. She simply couldn't belive that of all the people in the world who could have picked up the Note, it had been him. If it had been anyone else, she felt as if she might have had a chance, but Light… Light was another story. Her friend had always expressed dissatisfaction with the way the legal system handled things, and from the recent death rate, it appeared he'd found a better way. If she knew the powers of the Death Note (and after eight years, she should) Light would never give up the notebook, not now that he was working for a higher purpose.
Eri pressed her face into the arm of the couch and screamed into the fabric, frustration tearing at her insides. She had tried so hard to maintain balance in her life; she was too afraid to give up the Death Note entirely, but she had tried. She hadn't used it since her parent's deaths three years ago, and she had tried to hard to keep everyone in her life uninvolved.
Apparently, gods of death weren't the only forces in the world with a twisted sense of humor.
Uller had seemed to sense her mood and had stayed quiet during the day, engaging only to glare daggers at the cackling shinigami behind Light. But after watching Eri's little meltdown on the couch, it was clear he could no longer hold back his curiosity.
"So…" He began, sitting beside her and arranging his long limbs to better fit the couch, "What do you intend to do now?"
Eri didn't even bother raising her head before she answered him, making her words come out muffled against the fabric of the couch, "What now? I have no idea. The old plan's no good, I know Light, and I know what the Death Note does to people. From what's been happening with 'Kira' it's pretty obvious what he's using it for, and if I know Light, He wouldn't let anyone get in the way of that, including me." She picked at the fraying arm of the couch, " I didn't want him to get involved in this. I didn't want ANYONE to get involved in this… I guess its kinda hard to keep an eye on someone when you've been focused on yourself for the past eight years."
"You could still attempt to convince Light Yagami to give up the notebook. If he did so, he would return to normal." Uller stated simply, as if telling her the sky was blue.
Eri felt her frustration reach its breaking point. "And then what Uller?! In the unlikely event he says yes then it's no big deal, but what if he say no and decides that I'm too much of a liability to leave around?! Light is smarter than me you know, if anyone could figure out the flaw in my little 'loophole'," She tugged at her pendant, " It would be him! So don't tell me what my options are, I only really have two at the moment!"
Pausing in her tirade, she took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, realizing how tired she truly felt. Uller didn't react to her words other than to look away, so Eri made an effort to lower her voice, trying not to let exhaustion leak into her words.
"I'm- sorry, Uller. That wasn't called for." she sat up fully, leaning forward and trying her best to sound genuinely apologetic. "I just- I'm scared. And I've only really got one plan left. We do nothing. We ignore this for as long as we can, keep our heads down, and wait for something to happen. But until then," She gestured to the TV, "We watch TV. Because I really can't handle anymore insanity right now."
As if the universe had been waiting on a que, the screen suddenly changed to the image of a confused looking reporter. Eri and Uller, distracted by the sudden change in background noise, turned to watch.
"We'd like to apologize for the interruption; as of now, we are bringing you a live worldwide broadcast from Interpol's ICPO."
Eri frowned, reaching for the remote to adjust the volume as her heart sank at the thought of more bad news. 'What now?'
"We now take you live to live to the ICPO."
The view changed to that of a stern looking dark-haired man in a sharp suit, the plaque on the desk in front of him read 'Lind L. Tailor'. The man began to speak in a voice that sounded smooth, clear, and almost practiced to Eri's ears.
"I head up an international police task force which includes all member nations. I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known as L."
Eri felt a spark of recognition at the name, her previous mood giving way to curiosity. 'L… where have I heard that name before? Isn't he some kind of secret detective or something? But what's he doing on a public broadcast?' She mused, as the man onscreen continued his speech.
"Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer, I consider this to be the most atrocious act of murder in history. I will not rest until the person or persons responsible are brought to justice. Kira, I will hunt you down, I will find you."
The man paused, his eyes straying slightly from the camera. Eri felt a twinge of unease at his words, "What's he doing?" she muttered, more to herself then Uller. "Even if he doesn't know anything about the notebook he should know giving out his identity like that is a bad idea… Light's only killed criminals so far, but this guy's just asking for it.."
"Kira, I've got a pretty good idea of what your motivation might be and I can guess what you hope to achieve; however, what you are doing right now is evil." Lind L. Tailor paused again, eyes once again fixed on the camera is if staring down the barrel of a gun. After about 30 seconds, Eri began to wonder if the broadcast had ended, and they'd simply forgotten to turn of the cameras, until the next few seconds passed.
Her breath hitched in shock as the man let out a hoarse cry and clutched at his chest, writhing and gasping for breath before his body went limp, and dropped to his desk with a heavy thud.
'Ok. So maybe it's not just criminals now.'
Suddenly, the screen changed again, displaying nothing more than the gothic letter 'L' on a field of white. Eri almost forgot to breath as a cool, digitally-altered voice issued from the speakers, tinged with something close to awe.
"I had to test this just in case, but I never thought it'd actually happen! Kira… It appears you can kill people without having to be there in person. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just witnessed it. Listen to me, Kira. If you did indeed kill Lind L. Tailor, the man you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he was an inmate, whose execution was scheduled for today. That was not me."
Eri felt her eyes go wide, 'A decoy? Is he serious?'
"The police arrested him in absolute secrecy, so you wouldn't have heard about him on TV or through the internet. It appears not even you have access to these type of criminals. But I assure you; L is real, I do exist. Now, try to kill me!"
She felt as if her heart was about to bust out of her chest, it was beating so rapidly. This L guy was clearly crazy, but to provoke a murderer like this…
He was good.
"What's wrong?" L taunted, "Come on, right now, kill me! What are you waiting for, can't you do it? Come on! Try to kill me! What's the matter? Can't you do it?"
There was a brief pause in the taunts, and Eri wondered if the next thing she'd hear would be his dying gasps, despite the impossibility of Light knowing L's name or face.
The voice continued, a hint of amusement carrying even though the distortion.
"Well Kira, it seems that you can't kill me after all. So there are some people you can't kill… You've given me a useful hint. Let me return the favor, I'll tell you something I think you'll find interesting: Although this was announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is we're really only broadcasting in the Kanto region of Japan. I had planned to broadcast this message around the world until we found you, but it looks like that won't be necessary. I now know where you are."
Eri felt herself momentarily possessed with the insane desire to run to Light's house and punch him in the face for being so obvious. Not that she'd have done better, but still...
"The police treated your first killing as an unrelated incident, but in actuality the first of your victims was a suspect in Shinjuku. Of all the criminals that have recently died of heart attacks, this one's crime was by far the least serious. Furthermore, his crime was only ever reported inside Japan. I used that information to deduce that much: You are in Japan, and your first victim was little more than an experiment, which means you haven't been killing for very long. We decided to broadcast in Kanto first because of its high population, and luckily, we found you. I never expected things to go this well but, it won't be long now before I am able to sentence you to death."
Eri felt Uller tense beside her at that.
"Naturally I'm very interested as to how you commit these murders without being present, but… I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I catch you. Lets meet again soon, Kira."
The screen buzzed out.
Eri sat frozen in place, transfixed by his words and what they implied.
Three years.
Three years of normalcy, and security, and knowing her parents had gotten the justice they deserved.
Three years of basic immortality, and now this. Light had a Death Note, he was using it in some god-complex fueled vendetta to rid the world of evil, and now the worlds greatest detective knew where he was. And she was standing in the crossfire, with no options left. Save one.
"Uller?" she nearly whispered, surprised at the steadiness of her own voice. The shinigami nodded, having not removed his burning orange gaze from her since the broadcast had ended.
"I was wrong about waiting. I- I don't think thats an option anymore. If this L guy's as good as he seems, there's a good chance Light will be caught, and I'm too close to him and too involved in all of… this, not to be caught in the fallout when that happens. And even if Light manages to kill L, he's smart. It'll only be a matter of time before he figures out what I am and then- then I don't know what will happen. But I'm not willing to take that chance."
Eri leaned back against the couch, screwing her eyes shut in an attempt to hold back tears of exhaustion and frustration. "I'm not going to die, and I'm not going to prison. But I can live in fear like this, I wont. That's why… I'm going to give up ownership of the Death Note."
Instantly, Uller's eye went wide and he leapt to his feet, towering over Eri and almost frightening her with the look of shock and anger marring his twisted features, "Eriko, you cannot! Our pact only holds as long as you possess the Death Note, this is more dangerous than simply-"
"I KNOW THE RULES!" Eri shouted, cutting him off as she leapt to her feet. "But the only way to be safe right now is for me to know nothing! Do you think I'm not scared? My entire personality has been shaped by that thing since I was ten years old! I have no idea who I would be without it! But I'm about to find out because we are officially out of options!"
Uller growled but said nothing, glaring at Eri with an expression she couldn't quite place. So she forged ahead, meeting it head on.
"Give the note to Isuzu, tell her you're my guardian angel or something like that. Just keep the note away from me until Light is caught or this 'L' is dead, whichever comes first. This is the only way, now can you do this for me or not?"
For a moment, Uller seemed as if he was going to refuse, but after several tense moments his head drooped in acquiescence.
"I will do as you say."
Eri gave him a bitter smile, reaching into her jacket to remove the pages of the Death Note hidden inside, pressing them into his hand. "Don't be sad 'Mr. Scarecrow'," she said softly, "This has to be resolved one way or another, and I promise, nothing will have try to keep me out of trouble."
Struck by an impulse she hadn't had since childhood, she reached out and wrapped her arms around the shinigami's bandaged torso feeling him stiffen in surprise under her touch.
"I relinquish ownership of the Death Note."
All was blackness.
Heres where things start to get a little complicated, but I don't think you guys will have any trouble keeping up:) From here on out, Eri's personality will be different, seeing as who she was was so heavily influenced by the death note before, but I hope you'll find the change interesting. On an added note, I'm looking for a beta reader so if anyone is interested please PM me.
Thanks to all the people who favorited/followed/commented on this story, your interest keeps me wanting to write.
Tziphora: Thank you so much for commenting, I'm glad you're interested in the approach I'm taking, seeing as I was going for something different and I'm not sure people will like it. Hope you enjoyed this new chapter:)