A/N I just wanted to say that this will be updating every Monday and I'm sorry since it's technically Tuesday where I live right now it's the 4th of July and I'm American so I'm sorry about that. Also sorry that I accidentally published this chapter with this author's note and then deleted it to add it.

A shinigami. In Light's fucking bedroom. Not too surprised but not too happy.

"So, who's the new guy?" Haruto asked.

"Ryuk. He's the shinigami that dropped the death note."

"Okay. So, why's he eating my apples?"

"He really likes apples."

"But he can't just-"

"Oh, trust me," Ryuk interrupted. "You don't want to see me when I haven't eaten apples."

"Fine." Haruto sighed. "Just know if you touch any of my candy, I'll kill you."

"Just the apples, I promise."

"Alright. Anyway," Haruto sat on Light's bed. "I was online earlier and read a story about some American mass murderer. I'll pull up the article."

Light looked at the name and face on Haruto's phone and inked it into the death note.

"Thanks. That reminds me, I should probably start writing names."

"Why is it that only you write names?" Ryuk asked.

"Haruto's idea." Light smiled. "When it comes to the Yagami household, Haru would be more likely to be suspected of a crime than me. Especially one like this given his, um, well known dislike and distrust in the judicial system. So, if our household is investigated for whatever reason, they'll probably look into him more. Because of this, he figured it's best if I'm the technical owner and only actual user of the death note. It's safer in my hands than his. Plus, it'd be too much of a hassle if we both used it. We'd probably lose it or something."

"You two are putting a lot of thought into the future. Already imagining what would be happen if there was a police investigation."

"Well, Light's the smartest student in the country, probably one of the smartest in the world, so obviously he's doing some serious thought into this." Haruto answered. "As for me, I'm passionate about making the world a better place and don't want to ruin that with a careless mistake. So, yeah, we think pretty deeply about this."

Haruto was surprised at how easy it was for him to just have a conversation with a god of death. He wondered what little Hoshi Yagami would think. She'd be horrified. The edgy kid Haruto was in his early teen years would probably love to see their future self hanging out with a shinigami. Current day Haruto was probably the strangest in this field, though, considering what his life was at the moment. Once this whole ridding the world of evil thing stabilizes, he's doing some hard reflection on his life choices. For now, though, he was just going to teach Ryuk how to play Mario Kart while Light studied and killed in the same room.

"Haru, come in my room!"

"Ugh, what is it?" Haruto took his headphones off.

"Just come watch the fucking news."

At this, Haruto sat up. Both had been paying attention to the news lately. Mostly it was for the sake of finding criminals but it was also a way to determine the public's opinion on them. Well, the media would never portray them in a positive light but if they mention them they at least know what the people are being told.

"Is it about us?"

"Yes, come on."

Light led Haruto to his room, his TV already on and showing a Lind L. Taylor.

"This is L?" Haruto laughed. "Huh, I always imagined him looking better."

"That's your concern?" Light whisper-yelled, not wanting to be overheard."

Ryuk laughed.

"What's wrong? I thought you planned this out thoroughly."

"Shut up, Ryuk." Haruto snapped. "We didn't think that someone like L would be involved, at least this early."

"You could just kill him."

"Yeah." Light agreed, picking up a pen. "Here he is saying we're evil when people like him, people who oppose the creation of our new world, they're the evil ones."

"No. That's what he'd expect. He has no knowledge of how Kira kills and I wouldn't put it past L to sacrifice himself for a case. He wants us to show the world how we'll murder a man on international TV without a second thought. We shouldn't give in."

"Damn it, you're probably right." Light swore, dropping his pen. "Well, I suppose things will get interesting as time goes on. I mean, there's nothing even connecting Kira to Japan. I wonder how much time they'll waste trying to find us."

The two boys watched as L went on telling them that they're evil. It took everything in Light not to put L is the note. It was so easy. He was basically begging for Kira to strike him down. Announcing his name, showing his face, going on TV to taunt them, it was difficult not to take the bait.

"Come on, Haru." Light begged. "It's so easy. Can I please kill him?"

"It's too easy, Light." Haruto replied. "He wants us to kill him. If we do we show the entire world that we're ruthless killers. He wants the people to think negatively of us so that they support when governments try to find us. And if they do find us, very unlikely but hypothetically possible, the public will support any punishment, no matter how vile, because we're Kira and Kira is evil."

Ryuk had to admire the brothers. They were a good team. Both intelligent in different ways, leading to one able to see options the other would ignore. If Light were alone he probably would have just hurt his image by killing L, if Haruto were alone he wouldn't be so careful and could've been easily caught.

These humans are so interesting.