My Way To Use It

by Dancesnapple

Can it be moral to kill someone? Well, what better stress test to that question than a notebook like this. The prodigy child of the country is not the one to find it. Instead, it falls in the hands of his average, oblivious, ordinary sister... Maybe her brother can help with the answer?

7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Limitations

Seventeen of twenty... That seems like proof enough.

Pen strokes flow within the classroom as Sayu looks at her own notes. To anyone who may ask that ISN'T her flesh and blood, she can pass this off as notes on hers and Light's activities.

To anyone who could piece together the names...

Sayu uses her time in class well. She's passing history more than any others at the moment, so she can afford to miss a few lecture notes. Instead, the girl is cross referencing names she's listed within the Death Note with those that have been reported dead.

Oh no. She's not doing this WITH the Death Note. These notes are on a perfectly normal notebook. The Death Note, however, is indeed in her pack in a pink cover wrapping.

No, no. She's simply using her leeway to mend her anxiety.

She's written down twenty criminals with the 'if' command. Each command is set about the victim dying if they repeat the crime they'd originally committed. All of them are perpetrators of various crimes of what she would deem as excessively harmful. Assaults, murders, and known gang members are her primary targets.

The girl notices three of her twenty are merely high value suspects in some more public rape accusations. She feels little hesitancy in writing for them. After all, if they did it, then them doing it again will punish them. However, if they didn't do it, and are innocent, then they won't ever need to worry so long as they never cross that threshold.

However, she did worry about what the command might consider 'against a person's will'. Like, did that include cases of a person changing their mind, or even someone who says yes under duress..?

Hmm. Perhaps she does have things to test still. She can try to look up some recent prison documentaries to find high notoriety targets to test that.

Either way, she can now determine that victims written under the 'if' condition at the very least live for a month. That's good! According to Ryuk, the note can theoretically last up until the end of a person's life span, so her commands will remain until the person finishes out a happy, non repeat offending life.

A chance for a person to reform. An olive branch to reach for.

With one weakness. She's still working out the kinks of how to stop a person from performing any other major crimes. Sure, having a murderer die if they attempt to kill again might be easy, but how do you cover having them die if they attempt to traffic drugs, kidnap, violate, or rob someone?

According to Ryuk, a vague command will cover the widest net. If she writes someone to die if they commit a crime, any crime, then they'll die by illegally crossing the street, speeding over the speed limit driving, or even downloading a song online.

The girl is further irked because of what constitutes a 'crime' when she writes that. Is the Death Note able to read into her intent, the same way it reads into the face she imagines?

Either way, she looks at the school clock as the bell finally rings.

. . .

"Let me get this straight. You're going to write your own name in the Death Note? Seems like a long winded form of suicide." Ryuk speaks as he hovers behind the girl. The image of the floating black humanoid monster behind the girl barely reaching his waist height would make her laugh if she didn't want to look insane.

Her mother cannot get her this day, and Light is at university, which means she has to walk herself home from now on.

Sayu huddles into the side of the rail train, away from anyone so she can mutter her response. "I have no intention of dying, Ryuk... Sadly. I had to go and become a coward, so that's not the point." She scowls. "The fact that I've already changed my plans means I have very little discipline... If not for the subject matter, I imagine Dad would be ashamed of me."

She continues. "So, I need a fail safe to guarantee I don't pass a line. Now that Light is all over me, I need to keep the Note, but I also can't simply stop using it as it'll be suspicious. At this point, I need to put up a front of my mental health to show that I wasn't lying the other night. From there... I just need to hope my actions either get Light off my trail... or... well, I'll either die or Light spares me which, fat chance of that."

"But Light told you that working on this case is against your father's wishes, right? Wouldn't it make more sense to just kill him and let your father figure he got too close to the case?" The shinigami rattles.

Sayu's grip on the train rail tightens, teeth clenching. She grinds out. "I. Will not! Kill him." She scowls. "That's what I need to write my own name for..."

. . .

The conversation shelves until she's back in her room at home, pulling the Death Note out and opening it. She speaks softly. "I need to write my name with the 'if' condition. As a fail safe." She holds up her pencil, frowning. "Just because I refuse to kill Light now doesn't mean continuing to use this note won't put me in a situation where I decide to do that later. I'm taking that option off the board forever. If I attempt to betray Light, or anyone in my family, the current me prefers to die right there and then. No exceptions."

Ryuk chuckles. "You're given the easiest answer to your problems, and you want to permanently lock yourself out of it? You humans are so annoyingly sentimental. But, it's your problem. Not mine."

Sayu gives a dull glower. "Soon as I can put to rest the idea of myself falling over the edge, I think I'll sleep a lot more sound. That's been distressing lately."

Silence reigns in the room for a moment after that, her pencil hovering over the page. She gulps, brow furrowing before she sighs.

So... the pencil meets paper. She leaves the name blank, giving herself plenty of prep time to build the courage as she crafts the wording out... And then, with a deep breath...

She finishes with her name.

The last pencil scrape comes off as Sayu pulls away, heart pounding. She furrows her brow as she holds her breath, looking at a ticking clock. Even though she knows the command she'd just written, she waits 40 seconds...

Tick... tick...

The girl breathes out. "Like that, the rest of my life is in the Death Note's hands."

She gazes at the command.

Sayu Yagami, heart attack IF she attempts to use the Death Note against Light Yagami, Soichiro Yagami, or Sachiko Yagami.

One minute. Two minutes. Her hand holds over her chest, feeling her heart beat. She gulps and sighs... then smiles brightly. "There we go! Family is safe and sound!"

. . .

Astoundingly... it worked.

Three days passed, and Sayu no longer had bags under her eyes, with a substantially lighter mood. Intoxicating to be around almost. Light even has to wonder at the sharp turn around. Still, he can tell it isn't an act. The girl is too easy to read. That means, whatever her issue was, she did have a turn around. She wasn't a liar.

With more sleep, she was able to keep up more in conversation and details. Yet, it wasn't so much of a change that it warranted more suspicion of her. So... for now, it's an observation period.

Light had returned from classes and has the weekend ahead, so upon finishing his first assignments, he took Sayu out to accompany him. The girl rolls her neck, popping it in a stretch as she looks up to him. "So... what's the agenda this time?"

"Crossing off a few more names from my list." Light comments. He gives her a side glance. "Today, we're working on my case, and you're joining me."

His case to find her... Sayu blinks in shock. "Wait. Really? I thought you were keeping me far away from that."

"I'm running out of leads, plus the work I'm doing is of the more mundane and easy variety. If you're gonna lean this stuff, that has to include the most boring parts." Light gives a light look. "Up til now, I've been able to know that the so called guardian or angel, what have you, has direct access to police information."

This tenses Sayu.

"So, I've been investigating each and every member of the police department, as well as every one of their immediate family members."

She gulps down a breath, but maintains some measure of composure as she chimes in. "Oh? And I'm assuming since we're both going out, you haven't found anything?"

Unfortunately yes he has, he thinks to himself. If he didn't, that would make things better.

Actually, this effort is two fold. On the one side, Light can hope to find some other suspect besides Sayu. On the other, it also paints the picture that he's still looking for his target. This serves as a means of doubt or paints a more innocent picture of his situation to Eraldo Coil.

That makes Light perform a cursory check of his surroundings. If Coil is checking behind his back, there needs to be a physical means of doings so. Someone must be following him...

"I've eliminated about ninety five percent of the department staff within the city with only a select few to go through. This has been an ongoing thing for months, though I've managed to exclude a large number of staff who either live alone or themselves lack the means or know how to pull something off like this."

Sayu frowns, side eyeing him with wide eyes. "And how many of the family members or friends? I mean, that's how many hundreds of people?"

Light hums. "I'd say at this point I've combed through fifteen percent."

She jolts violently, flabbergasted! "How much time do you put into this?!"

"Something like this isn't a hobby." Light starts deadly serious. "I only have so long between the end of classes and the more dangerous hours of the night. I need to stay ahead on my grades, so I can't afford to lose time for studying and cram sessions." His gaze steels forward. "That leaves very little time that has to be used precisely how I need."

Sayu gulps. She was right. Light is endlessly more tenacious than herself.

. . .

The art of observation is key. Light keeps hammering her to keep an eye on people's gestures. Their posture, attitude, and tone of voice can all be indicative of guilt or innocence. It can help one develop a sense of sorts for the type of suspect they're looking for.

Sayu marches back to Light, who is sitting on a bench. The two are outside of a store front, bright day light still about. Light has a booklet open, his list of police associates to investigate she'd learned. He speaks easily. "So, what do you think?"

He'd sent her into the store. One of the older officers had a son who worked inside as a manager. Light said today would be the last day monitoring the man, so he'd allowed Sayu to go inside and attempt to construct her own conclusion.

She'd initially freaked out. Having seen Light observe someone from afar as well as charm his way through conversations, she wondered how in the non existent, per Ryuk, hell would she replicate that?

It took her fifteen minutes to come up with an idea. The store was almost entirely clothing related, so Sayu made sure to pick a spot near the manager's offices. The area was shoes, thankfully, so she spent a half hour trying on various shoes, even ones she definitely thought were god awful. The entire time, she chose a seating that had the offices in view, where she had many observations.

All mundane. The man was a stoic worker who seemed absolutely overwhelmed with new shipments. He had an experienced eye, focused on various matters the girl can't get a grasp on from her position. From what she can gather, he's a busy worker with a not unpleasant attitude, given his courteous nature of his workers.

So, she tests his instincts with her.

Fifteen minutes later... Sayu is standing by Light at the bench.

"So... I don't think he has the temperament to be punishing evil doers or the like." She says, a bit embarrassed.

Light's face falls. "I don't like the way you said that. What did you do?"

Sayu scratches her cheek with a mild blush. "I... maybe made myself a difficult customer and asked for the manager to make him solve my made up problem. Gave me quite a bit of time to speak with him, and definitely tested his temperament!"

That gets a sigh from the boy, though, his lip quirks up. "Well, I'll take it. I'd already cleared him, but wanted the last day to be a teaching moment on him." Sayu looks over his shoulder, seeing him cross off the man's name.

"Alright. Where's the next one?"

Light looks straight ahead across the street. "Detective Miyasaki's wife works in that cafe. I've been watching from here."

Sayu straightens, huffing. "Wait, you just sent me on busy work while you were checking the next person? That's a bit insulting."

"At this point, you're essentially my intern to investigation." He doesn't mention that his placement on the bench let him check all around him for anyone tailing the two.

Sour, she puffs her cheek. "Oh? Your intern? Should I go grab you a coffee, boss? You use whole or half and half?"

"I take it black actually." Light quips despite a steeled gaze.

"You need to switch to sweets for that bitter personality you hide from the girls." Sayu playfully jabs, but follows his gazes. "Still, you've been watching all directions, lately. Something you want to tell me?" He hesitates to answer, hoping she makes the assumption herself. Somewhat, anyway. She grimaces. "You don't think whoever we're looking for might be counter spying us or something?"

Impressive. A point of pride comes to him. "Something like that. Yeah. If you feel like you're being followed, send me a text or call, please. It'll be very important. Explain to me your reasoning for the suspicion, no matter how small, and I'll do what I can."

Sayu grimaces. "Will do, but I honestly think you're overthinking it, then."

Behind her, Ryuk chuckles. "Yeah. You've talked up Light so much, if he isn't catching you, why worry about anyone else tracking you?"

Sayu cuts a look over her shoulder, but doesn't respond to his commentary. She agrees with it, after all. "Just make sure to keep me in the loop for once, please? If you notice something, I'd like to not be blind sided by it."

Light's eyes flick to the side. He hides annoyance, keeping a neutral tone. "Then I'll respect that this time." Sayu tenses, confusion mounting. "Down the street at the cross walk. They're using a newspaper to obscure themselves. That same person got off the same train as us, and has been within eye sight since I've sat here."

Sayu purses her lips. Before she can react, Light snorts with a fake laugh, earning a worried look from her.

"Don't show your true feelings." He turns around with a friendly smile, more comforting than most he ever gives. It's startling being on the receiving end of his acting. He offers her some cash. "The stand over there has a good view of that corner. Get us some drinks, some ikayaki, and keep an eye on them."

Sayu blinks, and looks over to a food stand across the street.

"Text me if that person moves, because I'm going to enter the clothing store. It has a back entrance. I'm more than curious about our follower, so I think I'll have a chat with them." She accepts the handful of cash as he turns away and stands. "After I've begun talking to them, wait at least one full minute before walking over with our food. We'll play it off and leave, and take the information we can."

She cracks a grin, but her words are anything but optimistic. "Light, don't let your ego make you reckless. You're not God."

Light remains chipper as he slides from the bench and walks towards the clothing store. Sayu plays her part, but frowns the moment she's at the food stand. She eyes the person Light mentioned. Like Light speculated, she sees the newspaper shift after Light disappeared, but the person seems to remain still.

She mutters under her breath. "Ryuk, you seem relieved since Light pointed out our possible stalker." She sends a message to Light, letting him know they hadn't moved. "Something you want to tell me, Buddy." She coyly nicknames as she frowns.

Ryuk grumbles. "I'm not one for speaking out of turn, but I'm quite happy not to have to with Light having an eye out. Though, a human will never be quite as aware of his surroundings as someone with our eyes."

"You're bragging again." Sayu whispers, stepping up to the counter. She speaks to the seller. "Two ikayaki, please. And, could I get one black coffee and a tea?"

A quick look down the street, the person still hadn't left their spot. Yet, they seem to have lowered their paper. Is that person... Sunglasses are obscuring it, but she has a sneaking suspicion the person isn't Japanese.

The server hands her a carrier with both drinks and two slots for the ikayaki sticks to be slotted into.

As she moves to pay, Ryuk goes ahead and speaks. "What I'm trying to get at is that I, like you, get annoyed or even paranoid when I notice something. Kind of like you being upset at school for a whole day over that silly dribble of sauce from your breakfast getting on your shirt. You kept glancing about wondering who noticed when we both know no one was looking."

Sayu's eye twitches.

"Miss, are you upset with the order?" The server speaks up.

She perks back and smiles brightly. "Not at all. Thank you!" She moves away from the stand, whispering again. "Get to the point..."

Ryuk huffs. "The point is that even if I know someone following YOU can't see ME, I feel like I'M the one being watched. It really creeps me out." He chuckles before adding. "And color me impressed by your brother AND disappointed. That guy on the corner isn't the only one following you guys, though he's much more sly about it."

Sayu stops short of the bench, eyes wide as people march around her in the crowds.

Seeing no response from her, Ryuk pipes up. "If I had to guess, Light got so focused on the one being slick that he felt the other one wasn't worth it. Or, he did notice and has an idea on avoiding them after. Obviously, I can't read his mind."

Sayu grits her teeth. Damn it, Light... What's got you rattled now? This clearly isn't connected to the killer anymore is it? No, anything that could come of this would be far too elaborate. "Which way?" She says.

"And what will you do if I tell you?"

"Be entertaining." Sayu speaks with a frown. Her answer peaks his interest.

. . .

Light rounds the corner from the other side of the block, looking directly at the person obscuring themselves with the newspaper.

Ah, so it's a woman. She's got shoulder length hair and sunglasses, but a sleeveless designer shirt. Beautiful makeup, with bright red lipstick. Gorgeous, by most standards. So, someone shallow by Light's assumption. In the mere few seconds of approach, he sees that she's a smoker, that her clothes are not labeled, yet expertly made with no flaw in sight. Yet, there's overlap in fabric on the sides, spots to hide something, perhaps?

Has to be. Most ditsy girls will wear clothing that's both revealing AND leaves no room for anything practical. Yet, this woman seems to have some spots to hide things. Could it be convenient taste? Maybe, but the fact he believes she's been following him leads to the assumption that it is intentional.

A nervous smile plays on him as he steps up. "Excuse me, Ma'am. Is that today's newspaper?"

The woman's reaction seems that of a genuine person, nothing to suspect. Just a tad of surprise at being spoken to mixed with the polite smile. "Oh? Yes, it is. I can point you where you may buy it." It's nearly imperceptible, but her lip quirks ever slightly. Could be natural disgust at being approached by a stranger, or irritation with being approached by their quarry.

Light plays off a nervous laugh, scratching his head. "Well, actually, I was just wanting to check a single page. Page 19."

The woman purses her lips, seeming to deliberate the decision. She eventually drops a hint of irritation and sighs, folding up the paper after moving it to the page for him. She pauses when she finds the page.

Page 19... Obituaries...

Ah, so she didn't know the page. She either hasn't familiarized herself with the local papers... or she wasn't reading them. Ever slightly, Light's lip curls in a smirk. He thinks for a moment she catches it, frowning as she hands the paper over.

It's a busywork task, he's already checked the suspicious deaths added to the list recently. Only a few days ago. If she asks if someone's passed recently, that can be a concerned citizen response.

"The obituaries is an odd thing to ask. I'm sorry, did you lose someone recently?"

Concerned citizen approach it is!

Light gives a sad smile as he makes a show of checking the list-

Wait... there's more names here than the page would typically place... He reads closer.

He speaks up. "Someone close to me is expected to have a death in their family. I was just concerned it had already happened." His face sobers as he looks over each cause of death listed in the obituaries. Heart attack. Heart attack. Heart attack. Heart attack.

These all happened yesterday and the day before?

He hands it back to the woman. "Thanks. They weren't on there. I'm happy for them."

The woman loses more of the polite nature as she snorts. "In a cell phone age, shouldn't you just call your friend to check in on them?"

Light smiles and laughs. "They're against the new age. A big fan of conspiracies, you know? Thinks people are following him, funny thing." He continues chuckling as he notices the woman's finger twitching at his intended phrasing. He smiles. "You don't seem from here. Most Europeans we ever see are American tourists."

The woman very clearly is beginning to get irritable. Yet, she responds neutrally. "I'm from Germany, actually. Just enjoying my time here."

"It's good to enjoy your work." Light tests her again, noticing her brow furrow behind her sunglasses.

"I didn't-"

"Just enjoying your time doesn't say WHY you're here, which means you're here against your usual wishes." Light maintains the smile, but his eyes lose any playful tone to them. "Thus, work."

She says nothing, huffing and crossing her arms.

Light drops the act and looks at her fully. "Tell your boss if he wants my insights to sate his curiosity, he should ask himself." He turns on a heel and leaves the woman as she's left fuming.

As he leaves, the woman sneers and brings her phone up, making a call. "... It's me... Actually, he found me out. Brat's creepy with how keen he is. It's like de ja vu with how you speak." She turns and walks away from the area. "I'm falling back. It's a bit insulting that he found me to begin with."

Light's demeanor has shifted, much more serious.

Taking a direct approach unsettles their current stratagem, so now they should back off and come later with another method. He isn't finished. Hopefully, he can force a direct confrontation out of this. Light plans ahead, keeping a mental note to send a reply to Eraldo Coil later. He's tired of the back seating here.

He stops.

Sayu never approached. He walked away because he reached an end to the conversation that was suitable. But, he told her to approach.

His gaze peers around to look for his sister...

. . .

Control your feelings. Play a role.

Sayu reassures herself as she prepares to view the person Ryuk said has been stalking herself and Light. The girl gulps, but rolls her neck in a show of a relaxed gesture as she glances around. She'd moved around the block to get the drop on the guy. Ryuk even said her stalker was following her. Good.

Ryuk snickers. "Very well... He's leaned against the building. You've seen him before."

She blinks at that, but then she sees the man... His brown hair is disheveled, wearing a black hoodie, but she remembers him being more lively. She does recognize the man! Months ago! It was Tachi Ryota!

His brother, Fuse Ryota, was one of the gang members with Takou Shibuimaru. Among the first people Sayu killed...

And Tachi looks horrid, like he hadn't slept in a while. Slightly paler. But, that's not what's bothering her. Why is he the one following them?

She blinks twice before perking up with a false smile. She gets up from the bench and approaches him, startling the guy. "Hey! What are the odds seeing you out in the world? Tachi, right?"

Tachi flinches at the approach, but makes an embarrassed look as he takes the hood off his hoodie and responds. "Y-Yeah... I saw you and your bro walk on by and, well... I don't know what was into me, but a lots gone on. It was Asa- something. Sorry, I couldn't remember."

Sayu has to struggle to remember before she perks. "Asahi! It's alright. So, what's up? What's got you out here in the world?" If he's following her, then he may lie. Analyze the statement and see how believable it is.

A far off look comes over the man for a moment, but he seems to collect his thoughts. "You were at the tracks that weekend... The last time my bro performed. Did you notice anything weird that night?"

Sayu stiffens for a moment.

Is he... investigating his brother's death?

She feels an uncomfortable swirl in her gut, talking directly to someone other than Light about killings she's done. Yet, she collects herself. She's not Sayu Yagami for this conversation. She's Sayu Asahi. She puts on a frown, feigning ignorance. "Weird how? It was my first time there, and the performances were great, but I haven't been since." She blinks and cocks her head. "Why was it your brother's last performance? Did something happen?"

Internally, she winces. Her tone was off. Her wording too direct. She should have asked in an uplifting scenario.

The man's eyes lock on her, a second longer than she'd like for him pausing to respond. "Well, you see... He died that night..."

She makes a gasp and frowns. "My gods... I'm so sorry."

He waves off with a forced smile. "Yeah, most people are. It's weird, being an only child all the sudden." Sayu's mouth begins to dry at that. The effect her actions have had made manifest before her. The man sighs. "Him and all his friends died within a few days. It's the damnedest thing. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I was hoping you saw something."

Sayu shakes her head. She remembers making his brother, Fuse, have a heart attack, but also stated for him to take plenty of drugs to simulate a drug overdose situation. She grimaces. "Did someone slip him something, you think? I saw a lot of people using drugs there."

The man tenses, eyes hardening a bit. "... Yeah... I think so..."

Sayu tilts her head. "Yeah, I don't know anything to help you. Sorry."

He smiles and shakes his head. "Don't be so sure yet." She quirks her brow, confused. He cuts a look as he continues. "You see, not so long ago, I was heading down to the Oda Supermarket. Saw you."

Her heart skips a beat, a chill in her chest...

"I saw you getting assaulted by some guy. He was on the news. Yet, before he could do anything to you, he died. Splattered by a car." Tachi clarifies. Sayu's certain her face is giving her feelings away... The man seems to take it as a form of ptsd. "Sorry if it's disturbing to remember something so horrible. I'd been in the crowds crossing the road down the street. It's just... my bro's crew, then that sod. People seem to like dying around you."

She gulps...

It was at this point she realized that the street was rather sparse with people at the moment, and the two weren't far from one of the alley ways. Still, so long as she remained here, she was untouchable.

Calm yourself...

Sayu looks off, pained. "I... don't like to talk about that. That was a terrifying night."

He gives a sad grin. "I don't doubt that. I don't mean to dwell on it, so I'll move on. Just pointing out the coincidence of it. Though, I am confused now."

She takes a hesitant step back, her nerves starting to make her feel like she's in danger. "About what?"

His gaze hardens on her again. "You just learned my bro died. How did you know he died with drugs in his system?"

She stops a gasp. Crap. She's losing it. She's losing control of her responses and he's caught something. She stops a twitch as she closes her eyes for only a second. She needs to collect her thoughts. "I-I didn't... I just guessed was all." She sighs and turns away. "I have to go, though. It was nice seeing you!"

Tachi hums. "Later then..."

Shit. She messed up. She turns and walks away from the man, quickly wishing to return to Light. Shit! Tachi clearly seems to be suspicious of her. Given that his brother was a criminal, the likelihood of something dangerous happening is rather high. Would he do something when Light is around? Could he be trying to follow her on other days?

No. At this point, she'll have to get rid of him before he finds out she's actually Sayu Yagami and not Sayu Asahi. The moment he learns that a police chief's children went to his criminal brother's performance the night he died, there's no telling what he might do.

She needs to use the Death Note on him... There's no safe way to go about this where he's left alive.

No! He's an innocent. He hasn't done anything! Tachi was a law abiding citizen with no record outside of working at a sports wear store. She can't go killing innocents!

What should she do then?

She returns to the original bench, so lost in her thoughts that she jumps at Light walking back over to her.

Light approaches, frowning. "Sayu, what happened?" Seeing her flinch, he relents, staying a step away. "Is everything okay?"

Sayu gulps and gives a forced smile. "Y-yeah. Sorry, Misao ran into me over there. I, uh, gave her your Ikayaki to rush the conversation along." She meets his gaze, seeing doubt beaming back, so she perks. "So, how's our stalker?"

He huffs. "It won't be a problem for the rest of today. Later, though? Well, I have some ideas on that. They left the area." He perks, looking around.

Seeing him glance around, Sayu realizes. He noticed the other stalker is gone. So he DID keep that information from her. She only prays he keeps it to himself.

Light sighs. Mercy is given as he shakes his head. "Look, let's go find something to eat then. Seeing as you gave away my food and not yours. Sisters..."

Sayu lets out a smile at the sibling jab. She thanks whatever god could be listening for the mercy.

. . .

Thankfully, less happened beyond that point.

The sunset into night sky was beginning to set in as Sayu and Light make their way towards the train station. The walk is comfortable as Light looks at his phone to mark off on a calendar function. "We got three names checked off today. I'll let you know the next time you can join. There's quite a bit of cram to do for classes."

Sayu snorts. "Oh, please. You know you'll get perfect scores. Besides, it's still super early in your semester. Don't you have free time on your campus before even thinking about coming home?"

Light hums. "Well, there is always the idea of staying sane by taking some time to yourself once in a while."

His sister chuckles. "Oh, I see how it is. Right."

Another moment passes as Sayu glances over her shoulder in a show of looking around. Ryuk is over her, wings flapping lightly as he floats aloft. The god of death seems distracted. He hasn't said anything for a while.

So, Sayu pulls out her phone, opening a blank text and writing out the words. She makes certain that Light is ahead of her, and that Ryuk can read over her shoulder.

'Ryuk, you're quiet. Is something the matter?'

The god merely laughs at that. Sayu suppresses a growl, knowing Light will question it. So, she retypes. Vaguely, she's aware of a vehicle parking along the street down the road.

'I'll give you five apples.'

Ryuk snorts. "I've already told you that I'm no ally you can just bribe, but this one will be a freebie. It's not a stalker this time. It's an attacker. Good luck." He chuckles as Sayu stops walking.

What?

Sayu jerks around, eyes wide as she sees a man swinging a metal pipe at her! She flinches back, the pipe whiffing by her to miss, pulling her bag from her shoulder! The bag hits the ground as Sayu cries out landing a few feet off. She looks up to find Tachi holding a lead pipe in hand.

Light whips around, sucking in a breath as Tachi swings the pipe back. Out of reach of Light, but it makes him flinch back. "SAYU, RUN!"

Sayu lets out a shaky breath as she gets up to run, but she realizes! Her BAG! The Death Note is inside! She gasps and lunges in to grab the bag.

"SAYU!" Light calls out. Why would she do something so stupid for a bag?! He sees Tachi move to strike her, so he steps in.

Tachi's attention focuses on Light as Sayu swipes the bag and takes off into an alley way. In exchange for his taking attention, Tachi strikes Light in the side, at the hip! Light barely braced himself properly, dropping in pain. Light looks up to see another swipe coming as he ducks and falls to the ground to avoid it!

Tachi sneers, turning from the college student as he looks in the direction Sayu went.

Into the alley way, Sayu comes to a halt behind a dumpster. She slides down to sit, eyes wide with fear. Shit. Shit. SHIT! She pulls her bag to her chest, reaching in and pulling out the Death Note!

She knew she should have just killed him! Now he's hurting Light!

Her hand finds a pen as she hunkers down to write. She gets only the first letters before a hand reaches around and yanks her from her sitting position! She screams as the Death Note jostles and lands on the ground.

"Wait! Please! Don't-"

Tachi snarls. "Don't what?! I want my brother back, you bitch!" He raises the pipe as Sayu holds her hands up in futile defense.

Yet, Light barrels into his side, punching Tachi into the wall! The two are left struggling against each other as Sayu processes what's happening.

"LIGHT!" Sayu cries and turns, reaching for the Death Note. She manages to get it, pulling open to the page she'd started the name on. She immediately starts writing, tears threatening to fall. The struggle beside her goes as she writes in chicken scratch hand writing.

Being hit before in his side, Light's soreness gives as another pipe hit sends him to the ground. Tachi heaves for breath, crying out as he raises the pipe.

Ba-BUMP...

Tachi stutters, eyes contracting. He sucks in a breath, stopping his movements entirely.

Light grits his teeth in pain, glaring up until he notices the change in look. The Yagami boy watches the assailant turn his head in contorted pain to the side. Light slowly gazes over, seeing Sayu leaning over the notebook in hand, eyes wide with fear.

Immediately, his eyes come back to Tachi as he scrambles back, sitting against the wall and catching his breath.

Tachi's footing gives out in choked noises and cries. The pipe hits the ground forgotten as he hits the concrete, clutching his chest, his heart.

Sayu wheezes in breathes as she looks down at her words.

Tachi Ryota, heart attack, NOW!

By specifying the moment she hit the pen stroke, she bypassed the 40 second start period for the note to take effect. This is something she can ponder on later, when not realizing that she just used the notebook IN FRONT OF LIGHT!

Tachi's wheezes give out as his movements stop. A raspy sigh coming to signal the passing of his life...

Light stares at the scene... His mind operates at a mile a minute, perfectly putting together what just happened.

Which... means...

His eyes slowly trail to Sayu... and the note book... The note book whose covering ripped off when the book hit the ground with the erratic movement. Cheap pink fabric had covered its exterior.

Death Note..? As in... a note book of death?

He shifts, speaking slowly. "Sayu... Are you okay-"

Sayu jolts back, hugging the note book to her chest with a look of pure fear. She begins to hyperventilate as she wobbles to her feet.

Realizing the action, Light quickly spits the words out. "Wait, Sayu, calm down-"

Sayu heaves a breath before she spins on her heel and sprints away from the alley way. The girl is gone in moments, leaving Light alone.

He gets to his feet, but taking two hits to the same side, his stride is limped. He manages to get to the end of the alley, only to completely have lost track of the girl... "SAYU!"

Damn it... Light grits his teeth.

Weigh options. Where could she go? He should call the-

No... Light grimaces. If he calls anyone and lets them know Sayu ran off, he'll have to explain what just happened... He already knew it and was hoping, but now there's no getting around it. But then, shouldn't he tell them? That would be the lawful thing to do.

But, if he can find her and get her home without needing to rely on the cops, he can get a full understanding of this. Get everything that can satisfy his curiosity...

In the meantime, he runs out, looking for her while he can...

. . .

Sayu couldn't stop running! The girl's legs were burning as she comes out from another alley. She doesn't even know the neighborhood she's at anymore.

Yet, she swears she can see headlights that have been coasting the perimeter of her route. She turns and rushes from the direction. Not even thinking about where she can go. Just panic. Too much panic... Thankfully, she managed to think enough to place the Death Note back inside her bag.

As she fails to notice the vehicle following her speeds up.

The vehicle, a van, screeches to a halt and opens, revealing another man coming from the slide door. One more is inside the vehicle...

Sayu screams as the man grabs her... A rag quickly being forced over her mouth... A foul stench hits her as one moment, she's hyper aware. And the next moment, she's fading and losing consciousness.

The girl goes limp as the men bring her into the van...

. . .

The door opens to the Yagami household...

Light is stone faced as he enters, fists clenched...

"Are you two home?" His mother calls. She rounds on the entrance, looking confused as she finds Light alone. "Oh? Where's Sayu?"

Light meets her gaze... and makes a decision. "She's staying at her friend's for the night. Misao's." He takes his shoes off, doing everything not to collapse from the leg pain. "I'm going to go up to my room for the night. We ate out."

His mother perks. "Oh! I wish she would have told me about that. Well, no worries. You shouldn't eat out so much, though. It's going to ruin you kids." His mother kindly advises as he goes up the stairs.

Light stops in the hallway... His eyes harden, a fire lit within him. To say he's unhappy would be an understatement. Any joy in being correct is lost from the situation. Instead of going to his own room, he enters Sayu's.

Without wasting any time, he gets on to her computer. Its tower is older than his device, taking a few minutes to boot up. Yet, he spends the time scouring the room. Nothing of note. However, he didn't take Sayu for being a writer of sorts. She's got a lot more writing utensils on hand than he's seen. She's not typically this organized...

Immediately on the computer, he begins checking. Checking recently opened files, he locates a file named 'How To Use It'. Curious. It's a simple note document. Attempting to open it, it requires administrator permission, a password. Extra curious.

He'll figure that out in a moment. Instead, he checks her online resources. Almost immediately, he locates bookmarks on dozens of pages. Blogs, posts, and chat rooms live that center around one subject: Criminals.

More and more confirmation, yet nothing regarding what he saw in the alley way!

That leaves the document... Light grumbles. Well, if it's the same as her old passwords, it's some combination of some number and Hideki Ryuga's name. Yet, even after three attempts, he could not get the password right.

However, a thought occurs at that. Could she have made the password unique to the document?

How to use it? Could that be in regards to the killing instrument? He grimaces, copying the document and taking it back to his room on a flash drive. Getting into his room, he gets to work deciphering a password the girl would make for it.

Still, he has one other objective to perform now.

He checks his e-mail...

A new message. From Eraldo Coil.

Light opens the message and realizes, despite the bad timing, his previous plan worked.

A direct confrontation worked with the spy. Because whoever Coil is, he's not unlike Light. He's going to meet the challenge head on.

And so, Light's eye finds the line. "12 PM. We will meet face to face at the following address. Satisfy my curiosity, and I will leave you be for good."

The Yagami boy narrows his gaze. So, he has time to sleep six hours, and get to work on where Sayu could have gone. Then, he needs to get this Coil off his back once and for all.

'Satisfy my curiosity'.

The self importance of that statement makes him want to rub the smug out of Coil. Light isn't his underling. He isn't meant to report to the guy like some intern.

… Granted, that's been his entire approach to Sayu. It's not lost on him that he and Coil on paper are extremely similar.

Light huffs. "Well, Coil, or whoever you are. At this point, you're just a distraction." He then directs his time to the locked document on the flash drive.

. . .

Her awareness was slowly coming back...

Sayu wakes to feeling her arms bound behind her back. She feels bruising on her cheek and sides. A side effect of being handled like a package. She's in a dark room. Unable to make out the details yet. Sayu manages to start to hear two men in the room.

"-cause Tachi went and got himself killed doing EXACTLY what I said was a bad idea! Seriously."

"He was an idiot that wanted to do it himself, but now we got her. All we gotta do is figure out how she does it is all."

"How do we know she ain't gonna just zap us with that telepathic crap? Tachi collapsed in the alley just like that."

"I'm telling you, I watched the girl. She did something with the bag. You still got it?"

"Well, this certainly didn't work out for you."

Sayu raises a pained glance, seeing Ryuk looming over. He huffs. "You look quite pathetic right now. Though, I would say that's your saving grace as the moment. These two have been arguing the whole time, I almost want to kill them myself." A faint flicker of hope comes to her, but Ryuk quickly stamps it. "But, I'm not your ally, and apples don't buy you a get out of captivity card."

She grimaces.

Separated from Light. Kidnapped by hostile friends of Tachi Ryota. She's outed to Light. She's got no allies or backup.

Is this it?

Is this how she dies? After she went through the trouble of deciding to live?

"Hey, she's awake. Let's settle this."

A hand roughly grabs her by the jaw line, tilting her gaze up to look the tanned bald man in the eye. He sneers in her face. "Alright, Sayu Asahi. You're the so called Guardian Angel of Kanto? Isn't this pathetic."

Sayu tries to pry from from the grip, but he jerks her head, bruising her jaw. "Please, I'm not-"

"Save it! We saw you kill Tachi, just like Tachi said he saw that one dude die at the Oda markets." His grip releases, making her recoil back to sit against the wall. "Just like all Fuse's boys died within days of one another. We know it's you!"

She looks away, a feeling of impending death coming upon her.

Yet... they're talking to her.

Is there anything she can use here?

Light... What would you do?

She closes her eyes, focusing on anything and everything that can be used to prolong her life here.

"Well?!" The man looms over her, threatening. He brandishes a gun from his hip and kneels down to look her in the eye. "Spill it. How do you do it?"

Sayu squeezes her eyes shut tighter, recoiling. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Just answer the question, and I might not splatter your brains on the ground here." The man says.

The second man grimaces from the background, wary. "Come on, man... Don't push it."

On the side, Ryuk looks on, no noise made. He's taking the scenery in. Sayu's squinting eyes find his, as a thought occurs...

It's only a matter of time before they search her bag... Maybe she can...

She gulps. "T-There's a note book... in the bag." The men both perk, looking to the bag. "Touch it, and I'll explain it to you."

Ryuk perks. "Oh, ho ho~..." His interest is peaked.

The first man nods to the bag, the hesitant partner moving to it and opening it.

He begins to remove objects. Some writing instruments, books, and finally he pulls it out. The Death Note. He looks oddly at it. "Written in English? The... Death Note?" He looks it over as he sends a skeptical glance- "WHA-!" He jolts back, falling to his butt as he drops the notebook. "MONSTER! AH!"

The first man looks around, following his friend's gaze. "What do you mean? Nothing's here."

The second is still pointed, shocked in horror pointing directly at Ryuk. "But... But..."

Ryuk merely begins to chuckle, his red eyes unsettling as hearing the laugh elicits a squeal of fear from the man. "What's this? You can hear me." He turns a glance to Sayu, seeing a grimace on the girl. "Is this all according to plan then? Hehehaha!"

The first man approaches as the second begins shaking in horror. He picks the book up, patting dust off it. He turns, having a repeat of the same reaction, faltering back at the sight of the death god!

Ryuk snickers. "Well, now that we've all had a touch, I won't have to repeat myself. I am the shinigami, Ryuk." The two men cower away from him as he continues to speak, heedless of their fear. "Depending on how this all goes, I might be stuck with one of you until your dying day. A fun little game this is."

"G-Game?!" The coward man stutters.

Sayu gulps and looks up. Her tear stricken face ruins any form of intimidation she could cause herself, but Ryuk looming over her manages to send the message home. "Don't mind Ryuk. He's a spectator, as he so painfully makes clear."

The men are agape at the information, but Ryuk chuckles to confirm the information.

"It's true. You two hold the only object capable of the deaths that have occurred for the past few months. However, this power comes with a price." Sayu's voice trembles as she speaks, but she maintains eye contact. Just make the point home, and she can hopefully convince them.

The men look at the note book. "A price? A price for that much power? That's insanely easy!"

"Is it?" Sayu questions. "For idiots, maybe." The men recoil at her insult. Sayu maintains a frown, eyes watering with quivering nerves. "Because I wasn't told until AFTER I'd used it... Any human who uses the Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell for all eternity. Use it, and your eternal soul is forfeit beyond your current life."

Oh.

OH! Ryuk perks.

He cackles, spooking the men as he figures out Sayu's plan of attack here! She's using his words! Perfectly, he may add!

"Our souls?" The coward speaks. He gulps, looking at his friend. "That's not worth it, Man. I'm out on that."

The first one, armed with a gun, pauses with thought. He looks to Ryuk. "So, like... if we do nothing, he won't take our souls?"

"Not unless your name is written inside that note book." Sayu states with a frown. "However, if I die, that note book transfers its ownership to whoever has it next. Ryuk here will be forced to dwell with whichever of you that is. Which, may as well cause the same thing. A horrid anticipation for our afterlife."

She needs to scare them into not using it themselves. She NEEDS to sell that point. "So please! Do not use it! And do not kill me! For your sake! Not mine!"

The men share a look, deep in thought. They send wary looks at Ryuk, the first getting a curious look. "Wait. So, she's serious?"

"Hehe... Everything she says is something I told her myself. It's all as I've said, and I'm not one to like repeating myself." Ryuk chuckles with it, seeing the gears turn. "It's most fun watching you mortals in these situations. After all, humans are so interesting."

The second man takes a step back. "See? She doesn't know our names, so we can just dump her somewhere and never look back." Sayu perks at this.

However, the first man smirks. "Didn't you hear? Her soul is already damned." He takes a deep breath, drawing his gun with one hand and holding the Death Note in the other. "So, if WE can't use it, that's no skin off my bones..." As he tosses the note book onto the floor in front of Sayu. He aims the gun at her, eliciting a wide eyed horror on the girl. "But, YOU can use it as much as we let you. So long as you don't know our names, you can't do a thing to us."

He presses the barrel of the gun to her head, making her flinch back, tears beginning to fall.

The first man smiles. "Hey, man. Go get a list of the Rosso crew's names." He sends a look to the second man who begins to recognize the situation. "Anyone that's been in our way is nothing to us anymore, because SHE'S going to kill them all!

Sayu tenses. "What..?"

The gun steadies its aim on her. The man grins. "That is, if you don't want to die and experience this damnation you talked about."

She stares back... Horror and relief mixed. Her life is safe... but now she's become exactly what she wanted to avoid.

A monster abusing the note book.

She looks down, tears falling. She chokes up as she mutters under her breath. "Light, help me..."

Another chapter down. This has been a long time since an update, but I hope it's worth the wait. Hopefully the wait isn't as bad for the next chapter, guys!

I love the review responses, and you guys are very supportive! Hope you all have a great day, and see you next time!