Author's Note: If anyone pulls up the 2003 calendar, they will see that December 20th is a Saturday. Light is wearing his uniform because students in Japan go to school in the mornings on Saturday. Perhaps no one would have asked, but I thought I should mention it just in case. Also, in addition the fact that I don't own Death Note, I also do not own the other quoted material in this chapter (which will remain unnamed for your reading pleasure).

December 20th, 2003

7:45 am

"Light Yagami?"

Light stiffened, hand briefly brushing the pepper spray in his uniform pocket as he turned around. The speaker was a woman in plain clothes, but she stood like a cop. Her face was obscured by a baseball cap and large sunglasses. "Yes?"

"I'd like you to come with me, please." Her voice was pleasant, but her hand pulled back her leather jacket to reveal the handle of a pistol.

Light froze, eyes locked onto the pistol. I'm fucked. Few Japanese police officers carried guns with them, especially if they were in plain clothes, and never anything but the standard .38 revolver. This was a 9mm handgun—most likely American. Kidnapping? "Are you with the police?" Light asked, feigning curiosity while he looked around at his surroundings. No one was around, but maybe he could get to a place with some more witnesses if he ran. It seemed like the woman would rather that he came with her, so she wouldn't shoot to kill if she did have to draw her gun. The noise would cause at least one person to call the cops, and Light didn't see a car in sight. He might have time. But I really don't want to get shot.

"Sort of," she said, smiling coldly.

"Then, if you don't mind," he said, beginning to walk backwards, "I'd like to see some identification."

"It's in my car," she said, walking forward at the same pace. "If you'd like to come with me..."

"No, that's all right," Light said, smiling disarmingly and reaching into his pockets. He closed one hand on his cell phone and one hand on his pepper spray, withdrawing the phone. "I'll just call my father and see if he knows anything about this."

The woman's gun was out faster than Light could flip open his phone. "Drop it, Yagami."

Light breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm himself, but did not drop the phone. "What is all of this about?"

"You are a suspect in the Kira investigation. Further resistance will only increase the likelihood that you are Kira or are working with Kira."

Light frowned, brows furrowing. The Kira investigation? "If I'm suspected in the Kira investigation, I don't understand why you would stop me from calling my father. He's involved with the investigation, he should know about this."

"This is above your father."

Above?... "L?" Light asked incredulously. How could he possibly suspect him of being Kira? "Do you have proof that you're working for him?"

"I'm not required to prove anything to you, Yagami. You're the suspect."

Light stiffened. "Then I'm afraid I will have to resist. For all I know, you've been leaving rotten apples in my room."

"I will shoot, Light Yagami," the woman warned.

"And you will alert the entire neighborhood with the gunshot. Not to mention that you want me alive for questioning. I could very well still escape you."

The woman smiled and withdrew something from her coat. I'm fucked, Light thought again as the woman screwed the silencer on her gun. "I hear that it's very hard to run when both feet have bullets in them."

Light sighed and slipped his phone back into his pocket. "All right, fine. I'll go with you."

The woman gestured with the gun. "Take the cell phone and whatever's in your other pocket and place it on the ground, same with your school bag. Then put your hands in the air and back up five paces." Light obeyed this order, fervently hoping that this was, indeed, an agent working for L, and not his stalker. She didn't seem to have the same worshiping quality that all the letters had, so Light was fairly sure that she wasn't following him, but still... he couldn't be too careful.

If she did work for L, though, he should be fine. He wasn't Kira, and that should be made perfectly clear upon further investigation.

Light watched as she took the phone, bag, and pepper spray, then slipped behind him. She lowered his arms gently, then tied his wrists together behind his back with a zip tie. Gun pressed firmly between his shoulder blades, she urged him forward.

"Is it safe to assume that you won't answer any questions posed to you?" Light hazarded, very aware of the metal pressed into his back.

"Very safe," the woman replied dryly. "It's also safe to assume that anything you say can and will be used against you."

"Of course," Light muttered. They rounded a corner to be greeted by a sleek car with tinted windows. The woman yanked open the back door of the car and gave Light a light shove into the seat before slamming the door shut and walking around to the front seat. Light saw in the rear-view mirror that the driver of the car also wore a hat and large sunglasses.

The woman leaned back in the seat and held up a blindfold to Light. "The easy way, or the hard way?" Light sighed wearily and leaned his head forward. He couldn't seem to get a break, lately. "Good boy," she muttered, slipping the cloth over his eyes. Light's world went dark, and he leaned back in the ironically comfortable seats.

He didn't bother keeping track of the time- he knew that there was no way he'd be able to determine his location- but the drive was short, so he was sure that he was still in Tokyo. The car was parked somewhere with cool, still air, and Light was guided, he thought by the woman, into an elevator. He did not know how many floors up they went, as the elevator did not make a noise until they arrived at their destination. He was guided out of the elevator and stopped after a moment while his guide knocked on the door four times.

The door opened immediately. No one spoke as Light's guide moved him through a room and maneuvered him into a chair. A set of earphones was placed over his ears, blocking out all outside sound, and Light was suddenly incredibly claustrophobic.

He jumped a moment later when he heard a mechanized voice in his ears say, "Light Yagami."

Light let out a shaky breath. "L, I presume." He hoped his volume and pronunciation was okay. He couldn't hear his own voice, so complete was the block of sound.

"Yes. You understand that you are here under suspicion of being or working with the serial murderer known as Kira?"

Light nodded. "That's why I didn't resist arrest any more than I did."

"You were rather reluctant to go with my field agent," L's mechanical voice said skeptically. "And then there was the comment about rotten apples. Was that code?"

Light twitched. It figured that L had been watching the entire interaction. "No, it was not code. If I'm being investigated, you're not doing a very good job if you don't already know that I'm being stalked."

There was a long silence, and Light shifted a little in his chair. He would have felt a lot more comfortable if he could hear hushed voices or rustling, but he could not. "This has not been reported to the National Police Agency."

"Yes, well," Light muttered, trying to quell the anger welling up in him. No need to make himself look hostile. "It's probably filed as a break-in. December 9th. A rotten apple was left behind."

A briefer silence this time. "The question still remains why the stalking hasn't been reported properly."

Light was sure that his face looked murderous right now. "First of all, we don't know who it is. Second, there's not much the police can do. They certainly can't spare someone to tail me all the time, when so far all that's happened are letters and a few break-ins. And, personally, I think everyone in my family would like to get a few good punches in before we hand the bastard over to the proper authorities."

"Vigilante justice is the basis of Kira's crime."

Light stiffened. He wished his eyes were clear so he could glare at the detective. "He was in my room while I was sleeping. I think I'm showing an amazing amount of restraint by limiting myself to wanting to break his face."

There was another silence, this one more drawn out. "Listen to me, Light Yagami. I need you to tell me all that you can about this stalker. Have you ever seen him?"

Light grimaced. "You have my school bag, right? There should be an unlabeled marble notebook in there that documents everything so far. You'll have to excuse the cursing, I hadn't really intended for anyone else to read it." There was silence for another minute. Light shifted a bit, then made a noise of irritation. "If you're going to leave me in the dark, can you at least play some music through the headphones or something? I'll go crazy if I'm just sitting here, blind and deaf." Another long pause, and Light thought his request was going to be ignored, until soft music started seeping through the headphones.

After fifteen seconds, English lyrics filtered into the headphones. "Every breath you take..."

"Ha fucking ha. Really funny, L. Really fucking funny."

"Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you."

Light twitched in the chair. "I'm fluent in English, L, I know exactly what this song's about, and it's not funny."

"...I'll be watching you. Oh can't you see? You belong to me..."

"L! God damn it!" Light raised his shoulders, attempting to push the headphones off of his ears. He could feel tears pricking at his eyes under the blindfold, could feel his breathing slipping out of his control.

"Every move you make..."

I will do everything I can to serve my God.

"Light Yagami," the mechanized voice was slightly different now, "stop trying to dislodge the headphones or we'll be forced to restrain you."

"I'll be watching you..."

Whatifhetouchedme?Whatifhetouchedme?Whatifhetouchedme?Whatifhe

Light gasped and his struggling managed to jog one side of the headphones from his ear, but the other side continued playing the disturbing anthem.

"I dream at night I can only see your face..."

"Misora? What's wrong, what are you playing through the headphones?"

"I feel so cold and I long for your embrace..."

Light felt dizzy. Light felt numb.

He was in my room while I was sleeping.

"He's having a panic attack. Watari!-"

"I'll be watching you..."

Light felt a pricking in his arm and his vision faded.

"I'll be watching you..."