Sorry for not updating this for the past week. I know I normally update once or twice a day, but I've been busy with other things. I lost a lot of focus on my guitar playing when I started writing this, so I was focusing more on that again for a bit… and I also wanted to finish reading the Death Note manga before I finished this, since I sort of stopped reading it for a month after part of it ticked me off (which was the reason I decided to rewrite it in the first place, haa).

But, I'm getting back to it again. So, for those who've been wanting me to update, sorry for taking so long :)


Light sat at his computer, checking the internet to make sure Misa had completely covered her tracks. If she had any personal profiles set up online for anything, she could be a dead giveaway. She said she knew Katherine, which meant that Katherine may have recognized her. That meant with a quick web search and a little hacking, it would be quite easy to find out where she lived. If Light was smart enough to hack into the police database, then he could easily figure out Misa's location through hacking. Katherine probably could, too.

The second Kira was a problem that definitely wasn't going to be very easy to get rid of. Misa definitely wasn't very smart. She could be easily tricked into giving up who she was. She hadn't been smart enough, even, to give Light a fake name. As Rem had said, she apparently did not want to lie to him. Rem only made matters worse for Light. Rem was a Shinigami who was perfectly willing to die to save a human. The only way she could have possibly been any more menacing would be for her to side with Katherine as well as Misa. That was extremely doubtful, but it wasn't a very pleasant thought. It would be best just to keep that idea out of his mind.

On the search, Light spotted something troubling on the very first page of results on his computer. He clicked up the link. He gave an irritable groan, resting his forehead on one of his hands as he looked at the page. Apparently, Misa Amane was a small time model for teen and beauty magazines. That meant she'd be even easier to find. Her parents' deaths were also discussed right on her webpage. If the second Kira had been someone any dumber than Misa, then he would have killed them without even thinking about the consequences. However, as Misa had Shinigami eyes, he still needed her, as unfortunate as that was. Since he needed her, he was going to have to find some way to keep the fact that they had met a secret. By the next morning, Light had managed to think of a fairly simple way to keep quite a few people from knowing anything.

"Morning, Onii-chan!"

Sayu greeted Light in the same lively way every morning when he sat down at the table. He said good morning back, but he had a little bit more to say.

"Mom, Sayu," he said. "Could you do me a favor and not tell Dad about Misa?"

"Of course," his mother said.

"Why?" Sayu asked curiously. "Ooh. Yeah, he's kind of old-fashioned, isn't he…?"

"… Not just that," Light said. "Don't mention it to anyone. She's actually a model, and if word gets out that she had a boyfriend, it'll be troublesome."

"She is?" Sayu said excitedly. "Wow! Of course I'll keep it a secret… if you give me five thousand yen!"

"Sayu!" their mother scolded her.

"So that's how you're going to keep word about her from getting out?" Ryuk asked Light. "Wonder if it will work."

It should work for now… Light thought to himself.


"Good timing," Katherine said as she heard the hotel room door open. She saw no point in looking back, as she knew Light was the only other person allowed in the room.

"Huh?"

"We just got another message from the second Kira," L explained.

"Another one?" Light said. "The frequency of them is starting to get a little annoying, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Katherine said, "but apparently, this ought to be the last one."

Light stood behind L's chair as he hit the play button on the remote. Standing behind them were Matsuda, Aizawa, and Yagami. Light was eager to hear if Misa had done what he had told her to do. If she said everything he had told her to say on the tape, then maybe he could trust her not to get caught a little bit more.

"I won't use Kira's name in public anymore. Many thanks to the police for the suggestions they gave me. However, I still want to help Kira, and to have his approval. I'll start by punishing criminals he hasn't. Also, I will share my power with anyone who wants to help us. I hope that this will change the world for the better."

Perfect, Light thought to himself, suppressing a grin. Maybe I can rely on her to keep from being caught.

"After seeing this," L said, shutting off the television and setting the remote down, "I believe the first Kira may have already contacted the second."

"Wh… why would you say that?" Light asked.

"You don't think so too?" L said. "Hmm. I figured you would."

He took a doughnut from an open box on the table.

"Well, see," Katherine said, "if you look at the last messages, you'll notice she's been talking about meeting the first Kira. Didn't say anything about that in this one. Also said she wants to get approval by punishing criminals that Kira hasn't already. That either means that she didn't think that before – unlikely, if I might say so – or that she has already met Kira and he instructed her on what to say to avoid any suspicion, which doesn't seemed to have worked out very well for him."

"Kira probably also told this one to keep the fact that they've met a secret," L said.

"I see," Light said. "Then Kira made a reckless decision."

"Kira is reckless," Katherine said. "If he had any sense, he wouldn't have killed Lind. L Taylor, and would have realized that to be a trap in the first place, and we still wouldn't know that he was in Japan."

"This also decreases the chances that you're Kira," L said to Light.

"What?" Yagami said. "How is that, Ryuzaki?"

"If Light-kun were Kira, he wouldn't have told the second Kira to send that kind of message. Instead, he would have told the second Kira to force me to appear on TV. If there aren't any signs of the first and second Kira meeting, then he could blame my death on the imposter."

"'Even though I would have stopped if the real Kira told me to, I don't think the other Kira message was real anymore. L's death would make Kira happy. So, I see no reason to stop.' That's what you would have told her to say if you were smart," Katherine said. "And if you were Kira, of course."

"If I were Kira, I wouldn't do that," Light said. "I know L's personality too well. He would never actually show himself on TV; he'd find some way around it. He would never sacrifice himself."

"Light," Yagami said. "Even if it's hypothetical, do you have to say things like 'If I were Kira?'"

"Sorry, Dad," Light said. "I was only saying what I thought. The faster we can find Kira, the faster we can prove that I'm innocent. Besides, saying things like 'If I were Kira' only shows that I'm not. You worry too much."

Ryuk cackled from behind Light. "But you are Kira," he smartly.

Katherine glanced over at L; though he showed no reaction to this, it was certain that he had heard it after touching the Death Note. That was as good as a confession, but an invisible being saying aloud that Light Yagami is Kira wouldn't be solid enough of a testimony to hold up in the face of the law, or in the face of Light's father for that matter…. However, it was definitely real enough for anyone who could see this Shinigami.

"Well, I would hope that Light-kun isn't Kira," L said. "He's the first friend I've ever had."

"Wow!" Ryuk said in surprise. Katherine managed to keenly disguise a laugh as a cough. "Bet you weren't expecting that, eh, Light?"

"Well, I also consider you a good friend," Light said, barely managing to hide his initial look of complete shock.

"Thank you."

"It's been boring since you don't come to class anymore," Light said. "You should come to lectures more often."

"Of course. After this case is over with, I'll start coming back. Hopefully that day will be soon."

Despite the fact that the entire thing was a lie on both of their parts (Light was doing it to take suspicion off of him, L was to make Light think he wasn't as suspicious as he really was), it was quite hard for Katherine to resist Awww-ing at the absolute cuteness – after all, what other word could there have possibly been to describe it? – of the dialogue. It was even harder to resist laughing. She wouldn't have been surprised if her face was red for having to hold her breath to keep herself from doing just that.


It had been a while since Katherine had left headquarters, or even slept. That was her excuse to leave headquarters that night. She was really only leaving to follow Light out and put into play a plan she had been working out in her head. She hadn't gotten any approval on the plan from anyone in the team, nor had she told anyone about it. However, if she could somehow find a way to get Light to admit to being Kira and have it recorded, she was sure that had to be evidence enough to convince the team. She definitely wasn't about to admit to having her very own Death Note; that would have been a little awkward of a situation. It would have been hard to tell them "Kira kills with a Death Note" when she herself had one – they would have immediately suspected her more. So, Katherine made up her excuse later that night just to follow Light out. She caught up with him in the hotel lobby and started working on her plan.

"Just so you know," she said quietly, causing him to jump in surprise, "I'm on your side."

"Wh… I don't know what you're talking about."

"I bet the Shinigami does," she said, nodding back at him. "I'm not bugged. I'm not trying to get a confession. I'm only stating that you have no reason not to trust me."

"You did try to jump me," Light said. "Isn't that enough of a reason not to trust you?"

"Ask Misa Amane about me," she said. "We went to school together. She knows a lot about me with as much as she followed me around."

"If you're on my side," Light said quietly, "then why did you speak out against Kira on public television?"

"I knew who L was," she said. "I needed a way to get on the investigation team. I figured that would be the best way to get on, to profess my devotion to bringing the downfall of Kira. Everyone here knows by now that I'm a good actor. That's common knowledge, isn't it?"

"Yes…"

"L still strongly suspects that you're Kira," he said. "I would suggest that you don't let yourself be seen in public with Misa Amane, as he is also now suspicious of her as being the second Kira. I have to give him a little bit of information occasionally, or he'd stop trusting me. I noticed her in Aoyama, but I didn't say anything. I'm sure she recognized me as well."

"She did," Light said. "She mentioned that."

"Good," Katherine said. "When did you first meet?"

"She came to my house last night," he said. "Can you see her Shinigami too?"

"Yes," Katherine said. "That was the same Shinigami who explained to me the rules of my Death Note."

"You –"

"How the bloody hell else would I know that you 'ave one following you?"

"Right," Light said. "It's Ryuk, by the way."

"Oh," she said. She looked back at the Shinigami. "Nice to meet you, Ryuk. Now," she continued, "Misa's Shinigami is called Rem."

"I already know," he said, opening the exit door. Katherine followed him and Ryuk out. "She insists on trusting me. She even gave me her real name, and she's left her Death Note in my possession. She said she did it so that I could kill her, but she couldn't kill me. Then Rem said she would kill me if I tried to hurt Misa."

"Eh?" Katherine said, surprised. "That's insane. Damn. My Shinigami won't even leave their world. Lazy son of a bitch. Ryuk, you familiar with the King of Death?"

"Yes," he said.

"I've got his old note," she said with a laugh. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting him. As I said, he won't even leave the Shinigami world. He's an old geezer, isn't he?"

"Pretty much."

"Thought so."

"How long have you had yours?"

"Bugger…" she said. "What's it been, three years now? Picked it up off my driveway back in Ireland. Though I'd gone mad when I looked up and saw Rem standing… er… hovering there."

"So that note lets you see all Shinigami?"

"Yeah," she said. "And you can't see it, no. I'm not as dumb as Misa is."

­Light definitely thought she seemed sincere enough. Was it possible she really did support Kira? If that was so, she could be a big help against L. L seemed to trust her well enough, which meant she might even be able to get his real name. If she had a Death Note and hadn't killed Light himself yet, then that was a good sign. That was definitely a good sign. She might be willing to kill L for him, even. There was still the risk that L had sent her to spy on him. Could this be an act as well? She had done so much acting in the past that it was hard to tell when she was telling the truth now.

"If you support me," Light said, "is there any chance of you getting L's name?"

"I'm already working on it," she said. "He's a hard one to convince, but I think I can manage it. I'm going to head back up. Make some excuse as to why I decided not to leave. Maybe I've decided to stay because half way down the road, I realized I don't want to go until the case is solved. Something along those lines. See you later, Light-kun."

He glanced back over his shoulder at her, then looked at Ryuk. He looked ahead as he walked and spoke quietly.

"Think she's telling the truth?" he asked Ryuk quietly.

"How should I know?" Ryuk said, shaking his head. "Humans are strange."

Light glanced back at him. He laughed. "I thought you said humans are interesting?"

"That's what makes them so interesting."


L looked down at the front of the hotel from the window in his own room as Light walked off with his Shinigami tailing him. Katherine's sudden decision to leave was strange. That meant she was definitely planning something. There was no telling what it was, trying to read her intentions was a useless waste of time. Because of this, however, the chance that her plan would work was at a high percentage. Light could tell the objectives of most by talking to him, but she wasn't as easy to interpret as most. There was a chance that her "acting," as she so often referred to it, could win the entire case.

There was a loud knock from the door. The team, who had been examining the newest Kira tape again, looked at the door all at once. L walked to his chair of choice and sat down again, reaching onto the table in front of him for a half eaten bar of chocolate.

"Oi!" Katherine's voice issued from the other side of the door. She knocked loudly again. "I'm back!"

Matsuda walked over to the door and opened it. "You said you were going home."

"I realized that I'd probably stay up all night working on the Kira case anyway," she said walking in around him. "I highly doubt I'll sleep again until the whole thing's solved." She stood at the computer that most of the team was sitting by. "The tape again? It's not going to change."

"Yeah," Aizawa said. "Now what're you planning?"

"Hmm?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "What're you talking about? If I were planning something, I'd inform the team first."

"You don't just leave and change your mind."

"Yes I do," she said. "I just did. See? I'm not heading home, so presumably I've changed my mind about doing so."

"I mean, it doesn't make any sense to."

"I don't care," she said. "You've been accusing me since I started working on the team. If it is preferred that I leave the investigation, then I will do so, but that means my help would no longer be available. You'll have to find yourselves another grade A liar if that's the case. But if I do leave, I'll be kidnapping Mattie here," she said, nodding sideways at Matsuda. "Seeing as how it would just be rude to leave my brother with a bunch of people who think he's an idiot."

"What…?"

"You weren't in Aoyama, you wouldn't understand…" she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "So. Do I stay or go?"

"No one's leaving," Yagami said. "And there won't be any kidnappings."

"Unless it's required to help with the case," Katherine said with a nod.

"Hopefully it won't come to that."

"It may," L's voice said from behind them. "We may have confirmation on who the second Kira is."

"What?" Aizawa said. "How long have you had confirmation?"

"It's not definite," Katherine said, "and it may be a long shot, but based on reactions to unverified events in Aoyama on the twenty-second by random people, it may be someone called Misa Amane." She split herself from the group to walk back to the box of tapes from Aoyama. She kneeled down by the tapes and began looking through them. She took one out and examined it, and then she held it up. "Number twenty-six. This should be the one, taped the inside of a diner in Aoyama. Misa Amane is on this tape, talking to something or someone that is apparently invisible. She also acts strangely about halfway through, then leaves after. It's not solid… but it is interesting."