Hey everyone! I haven't been lazing around all these days. On the contrary, I've been writing frantically! This story is really getting to me – I have all these new ideas.

Don't be intimidated by the HUUUUGEness of this chappie – actually, it's two chapters in one. I've put them together in the same post because I believe they should be read together. One completes the other; that kind of thing. Therefore, please enjoy this long post.

Because the chapter is so long, there are probably a gazillion errors that I haven't fixed yet. If you see words being repeated in the same sentence, or something wrong with the syntax, then know that it's an error on my part. I'll be proofreading and checking the entire thing soon, so please bear with me until then.

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IMPORTANT: There are new warnings for this chapter. But to tell you the exact nature of these warnings would be a complete spoiler to the story. It's safe to say that there will be inexplicit adult situations, some really disturbed stuff. I DON'T RECOMMEND PEOPLE UNDER THE AGE OF CONSENT TO READ THIS.

If, despite knowing it might be a spoiler, you want to know the exact nature of these warnings then read the following phrase from right to left. Don't try to read the sentence if you're not interested in spoilers, despite knowing that the chapter shall contain inexplicit adult stuff.

PHRASE/ SPOILER: tsecni dna epar.

Now that it's over with, let's get to the chapter!! I hope everyone enjoys this, and my recommendation to readers is this: wait until you finish the whoooole thing before you write any reviews or make any judgments. That way, you'll understand the whole meaning of the chapter. It may seem pointless at first, but, as you shall see, it actually DOES have a theme. In there…somewhere (!)

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Hell Moral

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"Misa!?"

He came back to his senses as suddenly as he had lost them, his sharp voice slicing through the preexisting silence like a knife. Noticing that he was producing his own familiar voice – and not a deeper, scratchier one – Raito was at least reassured by the knowledge that he was in his own body.

Misa's name shot through his mouth unintentionally the moment he came back to his senses, since it had been the last thing he'd wanted to say before he fell unconscious. In fact, he shouted the name even before opening his eyes. Somewhere in the back of his rapidly reigniting mind, he was expecting the familiar whiny mewl to answer his call. Surprised when he heard no response, he struggled to gather his limbs and wake up properly,

'Enjoy your stay'

So this was probably it. He was still in that closed room, wasn't he? He didn't really want to properly verify it. He'd thought the lengthy interrogation would be the end of his punishment. Obviously, he'd been wrong. And if he was correct in his suspicions, then he would remain locked in this door-less, windowless room for a very, very, very long time. He was not looking forward to the prospect of being possibly accompanied by a demon-Misa, this time. She was bad enough originally.

With a slight groan, Raito shifted his body, since he'd been lying prostrate on the floor and couldn't properly see his surroundings. When he was in a kneeling position, he noticed that the floor beneath him was…different.

Oh no. More surprises.

He was on his feet immediately, hoarse and panting from the sudden strain. Frantically, he looked around, seeing but not truly processing. The environment looked entirely too familiar – so familiar that he was sure it was a hallucination.

On his left he could see his old bed, with the cotton dark blue covers neatly arranged. His old desk and bookcase, along with a small television set, were on his right. The familiar wide window was bringing the blue-grey light of dusk in the room, illuminating the setting enough for Raito to recognize it clearly. There was no mistaking it: this was his room in his parents' house, the one he'd resided in as a schoolboy.

The room where everything had started.

For a few minutes, he didn't really dare move and just stood there, perusing every object. Even his college books were settled in the exact same way he had arranged them. The pencil-cases, rulers and paperweights on his desktop were in pristine condition, just as he'd left them.

The air this room and its objects exhibited was almost nostalgic for him, since he was seeing a familiar place for the first time in who-knows-how-long. He felt so different now as compared to how he remembered himself being in this room…. As though, after being tortured, he could see the world with new eyes. It was incredible…returning to some place and finding it exactly the same as he left it, when he himself had changed so much.

He looked at himself a bit numbly, realizing that he couldn't feel the itchy scratch of the blue suit against his skin. And indeed, when he looked downwards, he saw that he was clad only in his white flannel t-shirt and blue boxers. His nightclothes? What the-?

Had Misa…? But a quick visual rotation of the room signified that neither Misa – nor any other demonic human – was anywhere to be found. Perhaps she had temporarily appeared and then left…? Not seeing anything out of place, but still feeling entirely too aware of the abnormality of the situation, Raito moved toward his desk.

And then he saw it, the detail he'd been looking for. The sign:

He'd never owned a clock like that.

It was set on his short night table, its colour appearing almost black instead of wooden in the light of dusk. Raito couldn't prevent the shiver that ran up his arms at the mere sight of it. Ha. How could he forget it? After having spent eleven hours being interrogated with it, the irritating ticking sound had now become a permanent part of his intrinsic memory.

He approached it gingerly, trying to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible. When he was within touching distance, he paused and leaned over to observe it. Trying not to touch it, lest he be hurt in some way, he squinted in the dark to recognize where the arrows where pointing. A knot climbed up his throat and another chill ran through him as he saw that the clock was pointing at a few minutes past five o'clock.

Truth be told, he'd been expecting it. But it still didn't feel any better to see it.

Somebody was telling him, in an indirect way, that he was still being interrogated.

Another game, then? Perhaps this game would be the most dangerous of all. The safety exhibited by the familiarity of the environment would inevitably render him careless and less cautious, making him unprepared for a surprise attack.

He didn't know when the 'attack' would come or what it would be, but the presence of the satanic double clock, with it's neurotic, incessant ticking, was solid proof that this was, in fact, not his safe childhood home. It was part of his torture competition. And that demon – or demons – had been derisive and sardonic enough to put the cursed clock in full display, as though they wanted Raito to know that he was still being tortured.

Raito believed that their logic – if there was any – didn't make any sense. If they wanted to lull him in a false sense of security by putting him in a familiar environment, then why would they want to show him that he was still under inspection? He scratched the inside of his right forearm absently, feeling incredibly clean and comfortable for the first time in days.

Then, he gingerly sat on the edge of his bed, noticing how well-constructed this hallucination was. It even smelled like his old room. Even the covers of the bed had the familiar feel to them. But seeing as he'd never felt safe, especially in this room – with Ryuuzaki's voyeuristic tendencies and all – Raito wouldn't let his guard down. He was always cautious, even when in a familiar environment, or better yet, especially when in a familiar environment.

Various scenarios began to play through his head as he sat there, each possibility worse than the last. Perhaps they were going to keep him locked in this room, in an attempt to provoke claustrophobia? But if that were the case, then why hadn't they left him in the interrogation room – it was more claustrophobic than the one he was currently in?

Another possibility was that he was all alone in this house, and there weren't any humans around. That would be an attempt to make him despair from loneliness. With a mental snort, he thought that having less people around would be a blessing rather than a curse. His sister's and mother's idle chatter did not directly irritate him – just bored him – but, under the circumstances, he'd prefer it if he weren't surrounded by humans. Each human could be a potential demon.

But he was sure of it: he'd seen Misa before he fell unconscious. Had the demon transformed into Misa, then? Would he be meeting Misa soon?

A plausible scenario was that all his relatives would be turned to demons, and he'd be left alone to deal with them. Raito wasn't looking forward to it, but he was becoming mentally prepared for a horrific possibility like that. Nothing could surprise him anymore. He'd seen the worst of it. If his parents turned to demons in front of his eyes, then he wouldn't feel that upset, since he'd know they were never his real parents to begin with.

And then there was the question of the clock. Was it there just to remind him of his predicament, or did it have some actual meaning? Was it a countdown for something, again? Would the pointers begin ticking anti-clockwise once more?

Truth be told, Raito didn't truly want to take action. He was feeling rather content sitting on the soft bed, where nothing immediately threatening seemed to be taking place. However, he knew that he'd have to discover the exact nature of what was going on in order to escape it. At least, this is what his previous 'experiences' had taught him.

He lost no more time, therefore – who knows what that clock was counting down…? Deciding to test if he was indeed locked in his room or not, he approached the door.

And then he froze.

There was a marionette hanging from the wall nearby. But he was sure it hadn't been there before… In the twilight, its cold, glassy eyes almost seemed to be looking right at Raito. In fact, just as Raito took a step back, startled, the eyes of the doll followed his movement. His heart didn't start beating fast, nor did he start breathing heavily. The only thing that he could feel was chills combing through his bare thighs and arms.

The traditional joker smile, painted with red all over the puppet's face, appeared anything but jovial when combined with the unblinking eyes. But it wasn't all these things that Raito noticed.

It was the yellow, long blonde hair that adorned the marionette's head…and the frilly, gaudy black-and-scarlet dress that it was wearing.

Misa.

The light blue irises of those eyes, combined with the dull lighting, appeared white and sickly. Raito could only discern the pupils of those eyes, dilated and staring right at him. But the puppet's smile had none of Misa's dogged adoration.

Apparently, he hadn't been as observant as he'd thought. Unless, of course, this new object had spawned in his room during the last few minutes while he'd been awake. This thought, more than any other, made his skin crawl.

A brief thought flashed through his mind; that he should attempt to dislodge the retched thing from the wall. But the idea was immediately rejected. Even in the off chance that he would even be allowed to throw the devil's doll out of the window, he was reluctant to touch it. Perhaps it would…Raito realized, with his logic, that he was thinking nonsense. And yet, he could not gather the courage to even approach it more than necessary, let alone attempt to manhandle it.

'It's just a stupid doll', he kept telling himself. But the moving eyes and the persistent, unnatural smile told otherwise. He couldn't shake the feeling that…that if he approached too much…it might come alive.

'All right, that's it!' He immediately ceased that infantile trail of thought and turned back to the door. He struggled not to turn around again to check, since he knew Misa's demon-doll was still looking at him.

His first instinct when faced with the particular door, cultivated from many years of conditioning, was to remove the bar of led from the brass hinge.

Naturally, thinking about the hinge made him remember the Death Note.

' Idiot! Why didn't I think of it sooner?! '

But he truly doubted that his torturers would give him the benefit of having the Death Note intact in his room. He still hadn't forgotten about his mysteriously missing wallet. If they wanted to take something out of his belongings, they obviously lost no time in preamble.

Even so, Raito was itching with the need to check his special desk drawer. Maybe the Death Note would be there, after all. However, he felt as though the incessant watchful eyes of the marionette would record his every movement. Had he been alive, he'd have thought that the mannequin's irises were cameras. However, considering his hellish situation, he was willing to believe it was more plausible for the puppet to be a...a...demon. Raito, being himself, didn't want to inform anyone about the hiding place of his secret weapon, even if they probably already knew.

Finally, he decided that he would just check the door. If he found the bar of led intact, then that would mean that the Death Note would also be hidden in his room, just as it had been back then. If, on the other hand, he saw that the door was not rigged, then he would understand that there was no Death Note.

And indeed, just as he predicted, there was no bar of lead. A quick inspection of the side of the door confirmed that there was no small piece of paper, either. His door was completely trap-free.

His heart fell.

There was no Death Note. As though it had never happened.

The swell of hope disintegrated within seconds. In retrospect, he considered it foolhardy of him to have thought even for an instant that he would be offered an actual weapon.

'Besides, even if you do get the Note, what are you going to do with it?' The treacherous voice of uncertainty whispered in his mind 'Kill the demons? Farfetched and unlikely.' And, for once, he wholeheartedly agreed with it.

Therefore, there was nothing left to do than test if he would be allowed to exit the room. He didn't find it impossible that he'd be locked in here with the marionette...would the puppeteer eventually show up as well? Perhaps that was his torture then? He didn't really want to ponder on it.

Sometimes, having an overdeveloped brain able to predict situations wasn't such a good thing.

His surprise overruled his nervousness when he felt the door effortlessly click open. The handle turned smoothly under his clammy hand, and there was the usual creaky sound of wood as the door rolled in its hinges. 'I'm allowed to exit?!'

Fighting his urge to turn and stare at the puppet, knowing he was being stupid but unable to help it, Raito suppressed a sigh of relief as he exited the room. After all, he didn't feel the surroundings were private enough to allow him to display his sentiments openly. Far from it actually.

Raito walked out to the corridor, expecting to see other puppets hanging around. He was suspiciously surprised to see that the corridor was completely normal. The door to his parents' room was closed, as was Sayu's. Despite his reluctance, Raito approached his sister's door, not knowing what kind of horror he may find inside it but still needing to explore his options. Apparently, despite his superiority, he was still subject to that intrinsically human habit: when one is aware of terror, one wishes to test the limits of that terror.

Sayu's door had been recently fixed by a technician, he recalled, so it didn't creak as loudly as Raito's – he took care to notice that the things he remembered about his real house apparently applied to this place too. Truth be told, he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting to see, if anything at all. It felt as though something terrible was about to happen and that a piercing scream would rip through the thick, silent air any moment now. 'Exactly like a scene from a thriller movie', Raito thought. The only difference was that it was real, and that the only murderer in the house was himself.

Sayu was in her bed, sleeping quietly. Her pink walls and creamy white covers appeared light blue in the spotlight. Raito could barely discern that his sister appeared to be the same as he'd last seen her: not a high-school girl any more, but a young woman. This new information was discordant with the setting of the house, Raito reflected, as he closed the door and moved to that of his parents' room. When Sayu had entered college, Raito hadn't been living in this house – he'd rented his own apartment with Misa.

Not to mention that Raito himself appeared to be the same age as when he'd died – twenty-three. This was also inconsistent: he had stopped living in this house ever since he was eighteen. If his torturers wanted him to buy their scheme, then why didn't they make it more realistic? Why didn't they put him in the house he had last lived in, instead of this one?

A quick check verified that his mother was also safely tucked in her bed. The fact that his father was absent did not come as a surprise, at first, since Raito automatically thought 'He has another investigation'. But then, quickly remembering the setting of the situation, he realized that this was not real life.

Raito didn't like this. The familiar environment was already taking a toll on his cautiousness. He must always keep in mind that this is not the real thing. These aren't his real parents and this isn't his real house, despite appearances. The clock and the marionette in his room could verify that. Under the circumstances, his Father's absence could be considered suspicious, and a worrying factor. Except of course, if it was just designed in order to recreate his real life with his parents.

Going downstairs was a troublesome affair, seeing as the staircase was dark and the lower floor even darker. The day hadn't dawned yet, so it was only to be expected. A careful perusal of his surroundings verified what Raito had begun to suspect: everything was in place, everything was natural. This was a complete carbon-copy of his house. The only difference was that it was darker, and rigged with suspicious artefacts.

Dark. In fact, it had felt so long since he had regained his senses, that it was starting to seem like dawn would never come.

'Is this it? Is this the torure? Eternal night, while everyone else is sleeping?'

On the one hand he realized he was being paranoid, but on the other he knew one could never be too careful with these things. He had to stay extremely cautious in order not to be caught by surprise when the torture would finally come, he thought, as he moved to the front door. Or, perhaps, he'd already gone through the worst of it. He shuddered at the memory of the Hands.

'What the hell is the point of doing this to me anyway?' he wondered sourly 'I'm already dead, aren't I!'

Distracted as he was, and accustomed to encountering normalcy by now, he unlocked the front door – his mother always left her keys on it during the night – and opened it. He'd been prepared to see the steps leading to their house's iron gate. Not a huge, black void, stretching everywhere past the front step. Uncontrollably, reflexively, Raito slammed the door shut and took a few steps back.

For a moment, he'd thought he was falling down the cursed building once again. A few moments passed while he tried to stabilize his heart rate. Then, still panting, he grabbed the door handle again and gingerly pulled it towards him.

But it hadn't been his imagination. Out of the door he could see...nothingness. It was as though he was holding a door, and past that door the world ended. He recalled encountering this scene in video games, when he was a child. In fact, it almost seemed as though something black and spidery – perhaps even black hair – would crawl out of the void and grab him. Losing control over his actions, he slammed the door shut, turned around with limbs heavy as brass, and walked to the drawing room.

He sat on the couch stiffly, not knowing what to do or what to think. So...the rules of the game had been set. He was obviously not allowed to leave this house. Fair enough...he could live with that...fair enough...Unfortunately, Raito was not immune to the universal rule of inversion: when you steadfastly try not to think of something, you end up constantly thinking about it instead.

Mechanically, he reached to turn on the nearby lamp, and was actually surprised to see it working without any mishaps. Having verified the existence of basic utilities, his next step was to turn on the television. He wasn't sure whether or not his torturers would promote their game to such naturalism. But apparently, he was wrong, because the television worked swell – unfortunately, though, there weren't any news, just some porn movies. Switching it off with a bored look, Raito let himself sink in the cushions of the settee, bathed in the warm – alarmingly normal – light of the lamp.

He decided that his best chance would be to try and distract himself. Reassured that the functional parts of his house were in working condition after verifying the existence of television, he stood up and moved to the large bookcase. Selecting an interesting tome about judicial practice – which he had already read as a teenager, of course – he moved back to the sofa.

Settling in a fairly comfortable position at the middle of the cushions and glad to be freely wearing something different than his suit, he rested the ankle of his right leg on his left knee and steadied the large book on his thighs.

This would be a good way to forget what he'd seen a few moments ago, Raito decided, unwilling to remember what lay – or rather, did not lay – outside the door.

He reminded himself that he had liked this book; it was constructive. It would be nice to refresh his knowledge about the faults of the law-enforcing system in modern times. With a suppressed sigh of relief – 'you never know who's watching' – he felt his shoulders sag slightly in relaxation. At last, something comfortable. He calmed down and opened his newest find.

But the pages were all blank.

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«Onii-chan...Is that you? What are you doing in the kitchen so early? » a brief pause, and then a long, characteristic whine «Waaahhhh!!! Onii-chan is turning into a pervert!? Go and wear your clothes, already! »

«...» Raito's face was as unresponsive as ever, as he sat on one of the kitchen stools, staring at the newcomer. His auburn hair, which formed the characteristic fringe, cast his glaring, narrowed eyes to shade. Finally, he blinked a few times, as though shaking himself off a trance, and spoke: «...Sayu. »

It wasn't much of a greeting. It was a statement. This girl was his sister. Indeed, she was the real personality: there was nothing even remotely demonic about her. From the warm eyes to the dark acorn hair, it was his sister. And right now she was looking at him with a characteristic rather dubious look, as though sizing him up. Then, finally, she spoke again.

«Hey, Onii-chan...» she said with a small grin, moving to the fridge «You're acting kinda strange today. »

«I...» after a short pause, Raito realized that he hadn't shared a non-hostile conversation with another entity for such a long time that he was now at a loss as to what to say «...guess.» he concluded, mentally praising his eloquence. Then, finally, he decided to test the waters «How long have I been here? » he decided to ask, just to acclimate himself with the paranoia of the situation «Haven't I rented a house with Misa? »

«With whom? » his sister asked, setting her sushi breakfast on the counter and sitting on the stool on Raito's left. Since it was obviously summer and the heat was stifling, she was also wearing light clothing and had tied her hair up in a ponytail. But the thing that caught Raito's attention most of all was her apparent ignorance about what he was talking about.

'Is this some twisted version of reality, where the Death Note and Misa aren't involved with me?'

«Misa» he repeated, hoping Sayu just hadn't heard him correctly «Amane Misa» he clarified, weighing the girl's reaction.

«Oh! Of course...» his sister said, staring at the distance with an enlightened look. She then gave him another of her estranged gazes. «I thought you didn't want to talk about that anymore...what with the way you two split up and all...what's gotten into you today, onii-chan? »

'The way you two split up.'

Raito supposed it would seem even stranger if he asked for clarifications. It was obvious from Sayu's treatment and dismissal of the topic that Misa did not play a major role in his life... Apparently, Sayu believed he'd been a couple with Misa before and split up on disagreeable terms.

His sister swallowed the last part of her onigiri, and then continued speaking, as in an afterthought. «Honestly...and then she sent you that horrible doll-thing...I bet she wants to try doing voodoo! Onii-chan, I can't believe you actually kept it and even hung it in your room! »

'Trust me', Raito thought begrudgingly, immediately understanding what the other was talking about, 'if I could help it, it would be buried six feet under, dead from heart attack.' But on the outside, he just smirked and shrugged. Since he hadn't even tried to dislodge it from the wall, he couldn't claim anything.

He didn't speak much after that, reminding himself that it was not wise to become comfortable around this girl, however much she might resemble his sister both in appearance and in conduct. If she turned out to be a demon in the end, he would have sorely regretted trusting her.

Sayu made small talk, as always, talking about her friends in college, about show biz news, about neighbour so and so who had been found in flagrante with neighbour so and so...Raito reposed in his seat, trying but inevitably failing to be comforted by the familiarity of the whole thing.

After his little surprise with the quality of the books in the house, he hadn't been able to relax substantially. Not that relaxation was an option recently, he thought sourly. Not that it had ever been an option since he'd found the Death Note. The closest he'd ever been to relaxation was the two heavenly months after L died.

'No, I mustn't think that way.' He immediately reverted his trail of thought. 'The Death Note is the best thing that happened to me. Thanks to it I became a man who was able to change the world.'

Sayu's chatter then broke through his thoughts «...-but seriously, onii-chan. You should go get dressed before mom comes down. She must already be cleaning upstairs. »

Raito nodded, standing up, unable to postpone it any longer. The problem with getting dressed was that, in order to find his clothes, he'd have to enter his room. And when he'd enter his room, he'd come fact to face with...that thing. And when he'd come face to face with that thing in broad daylight...well...he didn't exactly know what would happen. Not knowing was the worst of all.

'Look at me! One would think I'm acting like a toddler. Ryuuzaki would think I'm stupid.' He admonished himself, trying to psyche himself up, and forced his limbs to obey him.

Steeling his throbbing heartbeat and keeping a mask of utter calmness; he opened the door to his room. Truth be told, despite the sunlight of the summer morning, he'd been expecting the room to be just as dark, stifling and deadly as he'd left it that morning – was that what the room had been like after he'd died, he grimly wondered. But instead, he entered a brightly-lit, suspiciously neutral environment. Unable to help himself this time, he turned to the wall, where he'd seen the marionette hanging that morning, expecting the eyes to follow his every movement.

However, the only thing he saw was a non-descript doll, perhaps a little gaudy – concordant to Misa's true tastes – but certainly without moving eyes. Yes, it was smiling, like all other puppets. But in the daylight, its smile appeared more ridiculous and clownish than wicked.

Now Raito felt like a fool. He was sure of what he'd seen that morning...it couldn't have been a hallucination...could it?

Despite the apparent unobtrusiveness of the doll, he hurried with his clothing, eager to leave this place as soon as possible. The noticed the clock on the night stand, with its ever-present ticking sound, and saw that it was pointing to half past seven, like any other normal clock.

'Wouldn't it by funny if the whole torture thing was a hallucination?' He thought, and immediately cursed himself. This was exactly the kind of thing that he shouldn't be thinking. He was sure that this was just another scheme to drive him crazy, exactly by making him wonder what was and what wasn't a hallucination. It was his responsibility not to fall for it!

He exited the room briskly and went back downstairs. Now that the marionette appeared less satanic, he was willing to retry the books in the library. Perhaps the books had also changed, along with the doll. This time, he elected the first tome of Encyclopaedia Britannica. He eagerly opened it, expecting to see pages with extremely fine print and some illustrations. But all he saw was blank papers.

'Why? Why make the books blank?' He wondered. 'What the hell is the point? Torturing me with boredom?'

«Good morning, dear.» his mother's voice sounded from the kitchen, and Raito turned to see her, noticing that Sayu had left – probably gone upstairs. He blamed himself for not paying better attention to the actions of these artificial people. They could turn to demons any minute.

«Morning. » Raito answered, and then, looking back at the book in his hands, got an idea. He walked to the kitchen swiftly and set the heavy book on the counter with a thud. His mother, who was busy with the morning chores, turned to him with a questioning look.

«Dear? » she started, but Raito interrupted her straight away.

«Mother, would you please do me a favour? » he asked, and made sure his voice had the appropriate dose of politeness in it «Could you come here and see this book? »

«Of course...» she said, wiping her hands on the towel she was holding and giving her son a bit of a strange look. When she came to stand on the other side of the counter, hovering over the book, she nodded first at the book and then at Raito «...yes? What is it? » she asked.

Raito could feel his hands grow clammy «Can you...see what's written here? » he asked, hoping he didn't sound too abnormal.

His mother was a kind woman, so she humoured him «It's a text about Anacondas, dear. » she said, with a good-natured smile «Was there something specific you wanted me to notice? »

But Raito just nodded, slowly and pulled the book aside «Thank you, mother...it's nothing special, really. I just thought I couldn't read it clearly. » He lied with familiar smoothness «I'm afraid that this font is a tad too small for me. Perhaps I may be becoming slightly myopic? »

His mother looked worried «Oh, dear...it's must be all those hours you spend in front of the computer! You should take care to make an appointment with a doctor. » she said «Perhaps your father knows someone. He said he'd be coming home the day after tomorrow, so why don't you ask him then? »

Raito nodded, with a practiced easy-going smile «Of course, I'll do that. » And he moved to the bookcase to set the book back. Exchanges with his parents always made him feel as though he was a bank accountant; smiling at everyone and calling them names on the inside.

Nevertheless, his mother had told him what he wanted to know. She could see text in the books, but he couldn't.

'What I want to know is why. Why the books, when they could mess with everything else?'

Obviously, the cards of this game were not all set on the table just yet.

He wondered if the same principle stood with the front door. Could the others see a world out there, when the only thing Raito could see was void?

Sayu solved this question later that day, when she loudly proclaimed that she'd be meeting with a friend in Shinjuku and walked through the front door, heedless, as though everything was normal. At the same time, the only thing that Raito saw was his little sister getting sucked into the void.

And Raito was left in the house, trapped, all day long. Without books, without the Death Note to record names from TV news, without anything. He just sat there, waiting for something horrible to happen.

But what, he didn't know.

-

It had been more than three weeks that he'd been stranded there. He'd been keeping track. Three weeks of artificial normalcy. The only abnormal things happened at night, when the puppet would start following Raito with its eyes and the clock started counting counter clockwise, until it reached 'five o'clock'. Then it would start ticking normally once again.

As though the cycle of the same day was being repeated, over and over again. Naturally. Raito never slept in his room at night; he preferred the sofa in the living room and had steadfastly ignored the strange look he'd been receiving from every other member of the family. He had tried to come up with a good excuse. Apparently, when he'd said, with a desolate look, that his bedroom reminded him too much of '...the time I spent with her...' his parents had exchanged grievous looks and patted his shoulder. They'd asked no questions after that, apparently having completely bought his story about pining for Misa, his old girlfriend and the 'love of his life, who he'd tragically and irreversibly split up with'.

It wasn't that much of a lie, either: his bedroom really did remind him too much of her. That freaky little Misa-puppet looked ready to positively chew his liver off. As time passed, he'd discovered that he was, in fact, not crazy. The Misa-shaped marionette in his room would become alive at night – the eyes would follow him everywhere. Then, during the day, it would become just a simple, nondescript porcelain doll. As though it was trying to tease him.

His father had indeed come...just like he had in real life. He'd carelessly walked in the house through the void of the front door. More than once, Raito had wondered if the solution of this puzzle was to walk through the door. In fact, he'd even gathered courage and tried it once, feeling desperately bored. He'd steeled himself and clicked his jaw in determination, and then he'd walked right into the void, trying not to think of the Hands.

And after he stepped in the blackness, the next thing he knew was that he was in his room again – the room with the abnormal clock and the marionette. It was a loop, just as he'd guessed. If he tried to leave the house, he'd be transported back to his room. The same thing stood for the windows and the kitchen back door, naturally. He was trapped in here, waiting for the unknown doom. Everyone could exit the house and read the books instead of him.

Seeing as he had so much spare time in his hands, he puzzled over the solution to this problem. Nothing horrible had happened to him...yet. Therefore, he didn't really know what he was supposed to be doing, if anything at all. He'd never been accustomed to idling around, so he didn't know what to do with himself. And the ominous sensation of waiting for doom to strike could also not be alleviated.

Raito had wondered if he was perhaps supposed to touch the puppet to advance the puzzle, because the situation appeared to have reached a standstill. He hadn't gathered the guts to actually touch it, yet, though reluctant to admit it. Not even during the day. If that was the solution, then he was willing to wait a bit more... Nothing painful was happening to him, at least for the time being, so...

The most worrying thing, perhaps, was that the members of his family interacted with him and with each other in a completely regular way. His father, whenever he came home, was exactly the way Raito had remembered him. After going through the inevitable discomfort of seeing a dead man back to life, Raito had realized that these...these...individuals were not demon-clones, like the Ryuuzaki of the interrogation had been. They were simulations of the real thing. The real people. He didn't know if they were reflections of his own memory, or simple representations of what he perceived. In any case, they were completely natural, to the extent that they made Raito feel as though he was in his own element. And that was the most dangerous thing of all.

Now that he was getting used to this entire normalcy, the panic would hit him much stronger when it all inevitably ended. By now, the Hands had become a vague, buried memory. This was, perhaps, not such a good thing. If he was to be thrown and tortured again after being left in this environment for so long, he knew he'd completely lose his mind and the damage would be irreversible.

Which was why he was so reluctant to touch the mannequin. What if, after he touched it, the house and family were sunk in eternal night? What if, after touching it, Sayu and his mother became demons? What if Misa suddenly appeared? There were a thousand what-ifs, which Raito wasn't sure he wanted to explore.

Even though he was deprived of books or other mental stimulus, even though this wasn't his real family – and he had never even liked his real family to begin with – at least now he was not in constant pain or panic. And that was good enough, at least until he could figure out the solution.

Because no matter how realistic the illusion was, Raito wasn't fool enough to believe, not even for a second, that he was 'off the hook'.

-

After another four weeks of staying there, cooped up in the house, Raito was alternately calm and jumpy, as though waiting for the storm to erupt any second now. It was the inevitable consequence of living with the same people for an extended amount of time that made him start to treat them as the real humans. He had tried to prevent himself from doing it, of course, but after nearly two months of relative calmness, he couldn't help but think of them as though they were normal. He was always wary and resistant of exposing himself, of course. He may have been adapted to the environment, but he wasn't stupid.

It was true on the other hand that extreme familiarity could brew annoyance. Raito couldn't stand it anymore. He had nothing to do. The fact that the television mysteriously played the same program over and over again every day also had something to do with his desperation. The clock turning anti-clockwise and repeating the same cycle was also a dead-giveaway: he was supposed to do something, or else he'd be trapped in here.

'Forever.'

It had become obvious that nothing else would happen unless he took action. So, one evening, he braced himself and walked up to his bedroom. It was obvious that the marionette was the answer. He had no choice but to touch it. What other hint did he need? The memory of extreme pain, of the Hands, assaulted him yet again as he approached the harmless puppet. That memory had been the only thing holding him back until now. What if he was given no other chance? What if he was sent directly back to torture? What would he do then? After all this rest and recreation, he doubted he had enough courage to repeat the process.

Gritting his teeth and calling himself an idiot for feeling intimidated, he touched the bleeding doll. It was daytime, of course - he wasn't bonkers enough to even approach it during the night.

The tip of his finger made just the barest bit of contact with a porcelain hand, but the chill that went up his spine was disproportionately strong. He shouldn't feel surprised that the puppet's eyes sprung to life. Really, he shouldn't. But he couldn't really help the gasp that escaped him, as he found himself touching the hand of one very awake, very aware doll. Despite it being daytime, the thing had sprung to life.

The speed with which he removed his hand was spectacular. He almost even knocked the nearby frame off the wall in his haste. As the puppet watched him with its eerie smile, its wickedness now fully discernible in the clear daylight, he felt his heart throb and his temperature augment. The more flustered he felt, the wider the smile seemed to become.

Was he...

Was he being mocked?

He was expecting some great revelation to take place, something amazingly horrifying to happen. Even if he was suddenly dropped to the Hands then and there he would not have been surprised. Desperate, but not surprised.

But the only thing that could be heard was the steady, heavy ticking sound of the clock gears. It almost sounded like a breath. As though the puppet was...breathing. Then, suddenly, like the strike of thunder, a voice broke through the air, and Raito felt his knees weaken, momentarily believing the puppet was speaking.

«Onii-chaaaaan! Daddy's here! »

Raito cursed, trying to calm his beating heart. The smile had grown impossibly wide by now, and the eyes appeared glassier than any other time. Raito promptly turned around and walked to the door.

Nothing earth-shattering had happened, contrary to what he had expected. The thing hadn't even started talking, much less transformed to a demon monster. His father's arrival had been scheduled from before, so it couldn't be associated with his touching the doll. Therefore, no change had occurred whatsoever, save for the fact that the puppet's smile had grown in mockery.

'At least no immediate change.'

It still seemed very strange. Having spent so much time here without seeing anything go awry, Raito had been sure that the puppet would provoke some sort of... Now he was even feeling slightly disappointed. How could he have misjudged everything?

«Onii-chaaan! »

In any case, Raito was jarred back to the present action and walked faster down the corridor.

«Oh, hi Dad. » Raito said as he came down the stairs. He was greeted with the sight of his father, holding an evening newspaper – which, in Raito's eyes, appeared as blank pages – and sitting comfortably on the armchair.

«Raito! How've you been? » his father asked, with his customary gruff, tired voice. As usual, the son took a seat on the sofa, making himself comfortable. He could hear Sayu shuffling around in the kitchen – probably looking for sweets again, Raito thought with annoyance. Almost as bad as Ryuuzaki, that girl. But of course, these people had no idea who Ryuuzaki – or, for that matter Kira – was, so Raito would never explain to her how much her sweet tooth aggravated him.

«How's the investigation coming along? » the amber-eyed youngster asked, while plucking a few stray threads out of his jumper. The 'investigation' was nothing as serious or complex as the Kira case, of course. It was a murder case, from what Raito's father had told them – it wasn't as though Raito could read any newspapers now, was it – where the killer had stabbed a woman and her lover to the death. Honestly, what an idiot criminal who couldn't control his own emotions, Raito thought. People like that really were better off dead, or else they'd create problems like this.

«We haven't tracked him down yet, but we've uncovered some vital clues about his identity. Probably the ex-husband or a stalker...» Souichirou said, shaking his head in disapproval. Raito was not swayed by this show of police righteousness. He had discovered first hand, unfortunately, that his father was all bite and no bark. Sure, he defended justice...but he never did anything substantial to apply it. Prisons weren't enough. People needed real punishment and fear.

Only through massive punishment would they stop doing something evil, Raito thought. Kira helped the world. After nearly two months away from corporal punishment, Raito apparently had forgotten the more negative effects of having sent a hundred thousand souls to Hell. He had returned to his basic, personal beliefs.

'The Death Note was the best thing that ever happened to me,' Raito reassured himself with new conviction, 'I'd do it all over again if I had the chance! And if idiots like him hadn't spoiled everything,' he thought spitefully, looking at his father from beneath his brownish-blonde eyelashes, 'I'd still be the God of the New World!

«Well, Father...» Raito started, in a sugar-coated voice «If you ever need any help, you know you can count on me. »

Souichirou stared at him for a few moments, obviously in parental satisfaction «Thank you, son. I appreciate that. But you're already doing enough. »

'I've done more for justice than you could ever imagine', Raito sourly thought, as he smiled back to his unsuspecting father. 'I gave up my entire life for it... but someone had to. I was the one chosen for this heavy burden, so I bore it without complaint. What have you ever done that is so great?'

«Onii-chan» Sayu's call broke the silence, distracting Raito from his musings. He gritted his teeth, shook his head and forgot about his angry thoughts. «Wanna play a board game? »

The chestnut haired man shrugged, in honest disinterest. Games like 'Trivial Pursuit' lived up to their name when it came to him. However, occupying himself with anything, even if it was as plebeian as that, would serve to temporarily distract him from his new worries. Why hadn't that marionette done something? Would he be trapped here, with these naive people, indefinitely? Was this what his torture was supposed to be?

«Sure, Sayu...why not. » he concluded, without excitement, and watched her bring the Monopoly table game to the living room. He observed her as she set up the board on the table. She was an indifferent individual, who left him with neutral impressions. Not particularly pretty, but not ugly either. Very nondescript girl in personality, intelligence and appearance. At times he was amazed such an average creature was his sister. «Where's mom? » he asked, not really interested in the answer.

«She went to the grocery store – said she'd come back soon» the girl reassured.

Nevertheless, Raito concluded, at least his sister was as silent, guileless and unobtrusive as their mother. Nothing close to how clingy, whiny and narcissistic Misa had always been. He supposed silence was a virtue in women, remembering Misa's constant complaining.

«-but seriously, onii-chan, » Sayu was saying when Raito came back into focus «you should try doing something more constructive that just lounging around here all day long. Idleness is not good, you know? »

Raito nodded, having heard this before and, frankly, having thought about it himself. «Sayu» he started, having devised an appropriate lie «haven't I told you that I'm working on that project to help dad in his work? It's a program to help the police correlate statistics about criminals...dad, I've told you about this, haven't I? »

Souichirou nodded. «Yes, it sounds very interesting. » Indeed, Raito had talked about it. He'd had to find some excuse as to why he had not exited the house for almost two months – apart from being irreparably heartbroken about breaking up with Misa, his 'beloved' girlfriend. He suspected that, even if they weren't his real family or his real life, it would seem increasingly strange of him to tell them that he was blocked from exiting the house by a solid black barrier. Ironically, the program he had told them he was making was the one he had constructed during the Kira case, when he and L had been handcuffed and working frantically together.

«But still» Sayu concluded «staying shut in the house for so long? Onii-chan is good-looking now, but you'll get flabby if you don't exercise regularly! »

Raito had a vague sense of deja-vu, as though he'd heard a similar phrase somewhere before...but for the life of him, he couldn't clearly remember it.

«It's all right...since my mind is working overtime, I will still lose fat.» he concluded, and hated the fact that he sounded extremely like Ryuuzaki, who had used the same excuse in order to consume preposterous amounts of candy on a daily basis.

Ryuuzaki, the person who was apparently too bored to lift his hand and hold a spoon properly. Ryuuzaki; the incurable couch potato, who could outwrestle bloody Bruce Lee. It pissed Raito off just thinking about it.

«Which one will it be? » Sayu asked, holding up the multiple Monopoly pawns. Raito, due to recent traumatic experiences, did not even want to look at the Toukyo Tower, let alone use it as a pawn. He picked the miniature brass Shinto temple and was done with it. Sayu picked the geisha.

She had just placed the pawns on the first square of the board when an insistent sound, like the increasing sound wave of an animal stampede, broke out all around them. She paused, mid-action, and exchanged a look of vague query with her brother.

Their father sat up slowly, fingers becoming lax around the newspaper, and turned his head upwards, as though trying to determine where the sound was coming from. It was becoming louder and louder, a deep rumbling. A few seconds later, Raito felt a small disturbance in the ground. Immediately he turned his head upwards, seeing Sayu do the same from the corner of his eye. Indeed: the living room lamp was shaking slightly.

«Oh, another earthquake! » the girl expressed everyone's thoughts. Souichirou and his son shot up within moments – you never knew with these things. It might turn out to be a fluke, but if it was serious... The shaking was intensifying with each passing second. They were waiting for it to pass and recede, but it seemed to be constantly growing instead. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Raito felt puzzled as to how this could be happening when this was clearly not the real world...Perhaps his torturers wanted to increase the realism of the whole charade?

However, he didn't have much time to ponder. The sound became terribly loud, and noises of clattering objects echoed around the house. Suddenly, Raito felt a rough hand grab his upper arm brutally, dragging him to the right. Raito barely registered that his father was pulling him out of the way, before he heard a clatter behind him. It was his mother's framed photos.

«Ahh!!! » Sayu's high-pitched shriek sounded, as the ground started shaking badly enough to throw them all off their feet. They tried to cover themselves beneath the furniture, but soon realized that it was fruitless, since they wouldn't be adequately protected.

«Quick, Raito! To the basement! » Souichirou's loud voice sounded from somewhere Raito could not see, since he was lying prostrate on the ground. The whole world was shaking, he couldn't see straight. His panting breath and wildly pumping adrenaline were not helping him stay calm.

Even so, he lost no time, realizing that what his father said was right. They had to run to the kitchen and enter the door to the basement – a room with specially fortified walls for an emergency like this. Raito hoisted himself up with some effort, trying not to feel nauseous. Automatically, he leaned down and grabbed Sayu's forearm, unsteadily dragging her along with him. She was almost crying, but he had no time to tend to her needs. Instead, he tried to walk straight.

«Stay away from the walls! » their father shouted from behind, and Raito didn't need to be told twice. Plasters were falling all around them, candles and crystal ornaments were shattering to the floor. And as though that wasn't enough, with a sudden violent tremble, all the lights in the house turned off.

«Aaa! » Sayu shouted, frightened out of her wits by the power failure, just as Raito's gruff voice was heard saying «Shit! »

«Hurry up!! » Souichirou urged, his voice much closer than Raito had expected. The siblings held onto each other for support, because trying to walk without falling down was a task in itself. He couldn't support himself on the walls, and Sayu wasn't being all that helpful, seeing as she was more a solid burden than an actual moving person.

«Sayu, move! » Raito ordered her and jerked her forward violently. However, his voice was drowned in the rumbling sound of the earthquake. The floor gave a particularly nasty vibration, and Raito stumbled, slamming against the kitchen table. Sayu's stiff body collided with him from behind, making his ribs dig painfully in the wood. He gave a muffled groan and then got his act together again, pushing away from the table.

Since it was summer, the evening wasn't as dark as it could have been and they could still see the surroundings relatively well. However, the earthquake was so violent – more violent than natural, Raito realized with a clench of his stomach – that they couldn't clearly see where they were going.

«Quick! » his father's voice barked from the left, and Raito turned to see Souichirou's figure holding the basement door open. Apparently, he'd managed to unlock it while Raito had been trying to extract himself from the table.

The youngster dived through the door, not remembering that they'd have to climb down some stairs in order to get to the basement. He heard the door slam shut behind him and felt his father's hands pushing him forward, almost manhandling him. His father was the first to start walking down the staircase, supporting himself against the metal walls. Since the ground was now madly galvanizing under their feet and they were trapped in a narrow corridor, the girl started screaming, plucking at Raito's sleeve almost desperately.

They were already safe from the crumbling walls of the house. The basement walls were all made of fortified metal, able to support any weight. Even if the entire house crumbled above them, they'd still be safe as long as they stayed in here, in the basement, which was the equivalent of a panic room.

Without thinking any more than necessary, Raito flattened his left palm on the wall for support and grabbed Sayu's sweaty fingers with his free hand. However, he didn't manage to take two steps before he felt the ground palpitate. In a wild instant of panic he slipped, and started falling. A keen sense of deja-vu overcame him, and it was as though he was dropping from the platform all over again.

The only thing he could hear, as he tumbled down the narrow metallic stairs, were his father's and Sayu's shouts, his own beating heart, and the sounds of their house falling apart from above. Then a step dug in the back of his head, and he knew nothing more.

-

Something cool and liquid trickled over his lips, dribbling in his mouth. When it reached the back of his throat, his eyes slammed open and he started coughing and sputtering with abandon.

«Onii-chan! » and «Raito! » he heard two voices call simultaneously, and shook his head. There was a horrible pain, which played up every time he turned his head to the left, as though someone had badgered his skull with a mullet and then reassembled it the wrong way.

At least the voices informed him he wasn't deaf. He appeared to temporarily suffer from memory loss; however, since it took him about a minute to remember who he was with and what had happened.

«Ugh...» he groaned as he sat up, grateful for the cool hand he felt against his forehead. He raised his own palm and steadied the wet towel that was being held on his head.

«Thanks, Sayu...» he muttered in a scratchy, hoarse voice and hunched forward. He felt his sister withdraw her hand now that he was holding the towel in place, and he rocked a bit back and forth, trying to bring his brain back to life.

«What happened? » he asked, more than a little numbly.

«You fell down the stairs and hit your head. » Souichirou explained slowly, and Raito was glad that he had a policeman father, who knew he should talk quietly when people are hurt in the head. «Thankfully, you cushioned Sayu's fall, so you didn't both get hurt...are you alright? » Mr Yagami inquired, his face barely illuminated against the light of the oil lamp.

'No'

«Yes...I'm fine...» Raito restrained a groan and sighed. Unable to prevent himself from shaking slightly, he stood up and perused the room. His eyes were playing tricks on him, since it felt as though the entire room was shaking up and down, again – it was the after-effect of the huge quake.

«I tried to open the door, but it won't budge...Who knows what may be blocking it from the other side...? » Souichirou's voice sounded distant. They had just lost their house and all their belongings, after all, if Raito's assumptions were correct. Raito personally thought his father should be grateful for still being alive.

The basement was very narrow, with metallic walls and absolutely no furniture. There was an oil lamp in the far corner of the room and the three other corners were occupied with provisions and supplies: canned food, sleeping bags, flashlights, radios...that kind of thing. Raito was willing to bet by the Richter intensity of that earthquake that it may have had something to do with his long-awaited torture. He knew their house was probably mostly wrecked by now...ironically, though he had helped create it, he'd never thought they would ever actually need to use this basement.

'Is it just a coincidence that this is happening the day I finally touched the puppet?' was the most prominent question running through his mind.

«I've sent a distress call...» Souichirou said, and Raito turned to stare at his grim face, which somehow seemed less plump and more weary than before in the dim light «It's probably a matter of hours until they find us...» then, as an afterthought, he added: «If the police station is intact, of course.»

«But mother...» Sayu said, and didn't complete her statement. Raito looked at their worn faces, the very pictures of desperation, and knew that they were probably assuming the worst. At that moment, seeing them sitting like that, the very incarnations of desperation, he was more furious with them than any other time. Cowards. Honestly, what did they know of panic? They thought this was bad? They obviously hadn't felt their bodies being ripped apart by two thousand hands. If this earthquake was the next stage of his torture, Raito thought, then he'd be more than happy to put up with that.

«Otou-san, are you sure you're okay? » Raito heard his sister ask their father. He heard Souichirou answer positively, but very tiredly. Then, Raito sat back down and leaned his back on the wall.

«Well» he said, not really addressing anyone and mostly speaking his thoughts aloud. «There's nothing we can do now except wait. » he finished and let his eyes close slightly as he leaned his head back.

Suddenly, he heard a snort from his left and cracked one eye open.

«What's so funny? » he asked shaking his chestnut fringe out of his vision and glaring at his mischievous sister.

«Nothing. » she said, grinning at him with a Cheshire cat smirk «I'm just thinking that it was Onii-san who probably wished for an earthquake, because you didn't want me to beat you in Monopoly. »

The man smirked, closing his eye again and leaning more comfortably against the wall «Beat me? Dream on, little sister. » he muttered, thinking that there probably was only one person in the entire globe able to match Raito in any kind of game, and that person was already dead.

«Dream on. »

-

The rescue hadn't come in a few hours. In fact, it hadn't come in a few days. Raito watched his father send at least five other distress calls, using all means possible – it's not as though they had a good signal, either, so their cell phones and radios couldn't work. His sister was becoming more and more desperate with each passing moment, and her doleful look and comments about the fate of their mother was not helping lighten the mood.

By now all their clothes were dirty, especially Raito's grey cashmere blazer and dark blue jeans. He'd been the one to fall down the most times after all.

And then, perhaps during their third night of staying in the basement, Raito caught something with the corner of his eye. They'd just finished their meal of canned soy beans, when Raito thought he saw his father flinch in apparent discomfort.

«Father...everything all right? » he ventured. He wasn't really accustomed to caring about the welfare of others – especially when he was already holding a grudge against them from the past life. However, he was willing to make an exception, seeing as he was forced to remain in the same space with these people.

He was still labouring to discover the purpose of this new method of torture. What was it supposed to be? Would he be forced to witness his father's and sister's slow deaths in the basement and keep their corpses company? Was that it? That was hardly torturous, albeit miserable...was that why these people were carbon copies of his real family? To make him feel even sorrier, supposedly...? No, that couldn't be it. It had to be something else. This was just too simple.

«Yes...yes I'm fine...» Souichirou said, taking his glasses off and wiping them on his dirty shirt. But even though he appeared composed, Raito noticed that his father's temples were slick with perspiration, and the muscles in his jaw were pumping furiously.

«...are you sure? » the youngster repeated «I mean, I'm sure we can find a-»

«I said I'm fine! » the older man snapped, his voice a lot more aggressive than necessary. Raito indignantly shut his mouth, more as a reflex than anything else. That had been the tone his father had always used with his children when he was angry at them – which was not that often. All this time, Sayu hadn't said a word, and just kept staring silently from one to the other. She jumped a bit after hearing her father's clipped words, and then exchanged a mystified look with her brother.

None of them spoke for an hour or so after that, letting the room sink to a vaguely uncomfortable silence. Until finally, after a while, Souichirou was breathing loudly with ragged pants, which made obvious the fact that something was physically wrong with him. This time, it wasn't Raito who spoke, it was his sister. Her voice was kept soft and pacifying, obviously trying not to provoke their father's wrath.

«Otou-san...? » she started, and her voice was stark against the terse silence «Is it your heart...? Do you...need your pills? » she exchanged another look with Raito as she spoke. They both knew that they couldn't go to the house to find his pills…and they had no provisions down here. What would they-

«Sayu, stop speaking. » her father tensely said, startling his children once more. He was openly panting, by now apparently undergoing some plight. Sayu stopped talking immediately, although she appeared utterly confused. Raito narrowed his eyes and observed the elder carefully: Souichirou was sweating all over by now, and his glasses kept sliding off his nose. His grey-brown hair, left unwashed for days, was as greasy and filthy as his children's'. And the jacket, which had been removed from his wide shoulders, was lying in a bundle on his lap. He appeared flushed, as though subjected to some intense pain, and his black eyes appeared a bit swollen, moving frantically around and unable to rest in one place. It was an unusually unruffled appearance for a man as composed as their father.

There was no question, then. Sayu was right: it probably was the heart problem. Therefore, Raito had been correct in his assumption that he would watch his family members die one by one. This would be his torture. It was certainly a restrictive situation. Yet, he reminded himself, it was not as bad as it could have been. One swift recollection of the Hands was enough to ensure that.

Although...if his father was having problems with his heart...then why was he being so reluctant to say so? If he wanted, then maybe Raito could try to return to the main house and-

«Otou-san...please tell us what's wrong...? » Sayu sat up on her knees and leaned over, resting her hand on their father's shoulder. But her fingers had barely made contact with the cotton fabric of his shirt before he shot up, as though electrified.

«Dad...? » Raito started by the sudden movement, and stood up as he saw his father walking towards the stairs. He noticed, involuntarily, that his father had held his jacket in place over his lap as he had stood up and walked away. Raito logged this information in his remarkably absorbent brain, but did not really process the reasoning behind this strange behaviour. His father normally should be clutching his heart, right? Raito had seen enough heart attacks in his lifetime in order to be able to tell the difference. He had even died from one.

«...hey, dad...wait...» Raito muttered as he moved toward the stairs. He saw Sayu in the process of standing, but made a motion with his hand to placate her. Following her brother's advice, she settled down, thinking that, out of the two of them, Raito could better understand their father and that she could trust his great intelligence to sort out the situation.

Raito walked up the stairs, only to see his father's figure struggling with the door, trying to open it.

«We've already...» Raito started, but Souichirou flamboyantly ignored him, continuing to struggle. It was completely fruitless: the massive door would not open, no matter how hard they ever tried – and they had tried, several times. Obviously, it was blocked by rubble from the other side. But Mr Yagami tackled it with new conviction, as though he were a caged animal desperate to escape.

«Dad-» Raito approached even more. But when he was within an arm's distance from his father, Souichirou unexpectedly turned, with hoarse eyes, and grabbed Raito by the upper arms, starting to shake him. Raito was startled a bit, so he stayed still and expressionless, waiting to see what the problem was.

«Raito...Raito...we have to get this door open, Do you understand?! We have to! » he was acting almost as a raving man, and Raito was temporarily incapacitated at the face of such paranoia. He hadn't expected his father to be act in such a volatile way.

«But why the sudden-» he started saying, and then paused, perusing his father's face better, now that he had a closer look. Yagami senior appeared ruffled, as though moved by some internal panic. With the way he was acting, flushed and panting heavily, Raito could almost say that he was either in extreme pain or-

Raito's eyes, involuntarily and with a sort of sordid fascination, skittered downwards. Then, as they saw the thing they hadn't wanted to see – he hadn't actually believed it was a possibility – they became as wide as saucers. His father was...was-...and the reason why he'd been all hot and bothered, Raito thought with a chill, was that...-?

«Wha...What the..?! » Raito raised his voice unconsciously, extremely aware of the awkwardness and perversion of the situation. But the full impact of the problem hadn't hit him yet. For the time being, he was just vaguely perturbed at the fact that his middle-aged father was sporting an erection while they were locked in a room together.

«Onii-chan, what's wrong? » Sayu's crinkling voice echoed from further within the basement, and Raito heard her footsteps approaching the staircase. But his own look of confounded disquietude was nothing compared to the blind, pure panic that he could see in his father's eyes.

«Get her away from me. » Souichirou said; his voice low and commanding, like that of an animal.

Raito blinked, and then froze all over. His blood turned to ice and the warmest part of his body was his nails.

Faced with the implications of his own father's words, even Raito, with his eternal emotionless mask, couldn't stop his face from forming a grimace of absolute, unprecedented, utter disgust. His amber eyes narrowed impossibly, glaring at the older man as though he was the vilest insect on Earth, and his mouth formed a lax expression of revulsion, signifying he couldn't find appropriate curse-words. Souichirou showed no response to Raito's glare, just kept staring with that look of hoarse, derailed desperation. Raito was so disgusted that he wanted to shake the elder man's hands off him there and then, feeling dirtied by the mere touch of this...this...pervert.

«What the hell are you talking about? » the younger asked with a low growl of his own, amber eyes taking on a predatory glare. «Are you a man or an animal? » Then, almost immediately after he spoke, he turned toward the other side of the staircase, seeing Sayu standing there, staring at them with a look of complete befuddlement.

«Onii- » she started, but Raito interrupted her, for once having trouble keeping his tone calm and sugar-coated.

«Sayu, we'll see what we're going to do with this door, okay...? You just go and wait back in the room. » he said, with a voice more commanding and less reassuring than he had intended. Thank God that, from this angle, his own body was hiding his father's. Hopefully, Sayu would never realize...

The girl nodded, obviously having sensed the tension in the air. Thus, she retreated to the inner room hastily upon hearing her brother's words. The moment she was out of sight, Raito turned back to his father, the repulsed look back in his eyes. Souichirou was holding his head in both hands, staring at the ground, breathing hard.

Right at that moment, all thoughts of this not being his real family had evaporated. All he could think about was that this was his father and his sister, and...And that it couldn't be happening. His father may have been an idiot, but he was never a-a...

«I'll go inside. You just...take care of it. » the youngster said stiffly, clicking his jaw loudly. It took more of his willpower than he imagined possible to utter those words without punching the other man or emptying all the soy beans he'd consumed, but he did it nonetheless. Then, he spun around like an automaton and descended the stairs, not shedding another glance behind him. He didn't think he'd ever be able to look at his father the same way again. The mere thought chilled him. The fact that he'd even...with...

Ugh...Raito felt nauseous as he descended the stairs. Upon seeing Sayu waiting for him a little farther away the dizziness intensified. But he kept his face trained in a serene mask, as he reflexively clasped her shoulder, turned her around and walked to sit with her back in the room.

Well, thank goodness that the most awkward moment of his life had finished.

«C'mon, Sayu...» he muttered «Dad will sort everything out on his own. » and indeed, he did not wish to reflect upon the truth of that statement.

She may have not been his favourite person in the world, but she was his little sister, after all. He couldn't believe this was even happening. Here they were, in the basement, abandoned and hungry, with fading hopes...and all his father had to say about that was...

As they settled down, Sayu posed no other questions. In order to distract her – and primarily himself – from thinking about what their father was doing, he actually degraded himself into playing a game of twenty questions with her.

The time passed extremely slowly for Raito, who was involuntarily aware of every moment their father was missing. They'd just finished their seventh game and the man, who had been keeping track of the time, realized that his father had been up there, doing the unspeakable, for more than thirty minutes.

'Animals.' Raito started thinking derisively, internally disgusted 'Stupid people. Unable to control themselves. I didn't expect even my father to-. Honestly! It's just an urge. Where is their logic?'

He was just in the middle of his mental tirade while Sayu was thinking up a new game, when he heard something creaking from the direction of the stairs. He turned around, expecting to see a pacified, normal man once again.

He was in for another surprise.

«Otou-sa-» Sayu had started saying, but paused when she saw the ragged, obviously distraught face of her father. His features were drawn in a strained expression. In a state of profound shock, Raito barely registered that his father's gritting teeth and tortured expression was vaguely reminiscent of something...like a clownish smile, which displays a lot of teeth...he'd seen it somewhere before...

«Sayu...» Souichirou's voice rang, and Raito felt his insides freeze. Without realizing it, he'd stood up and pulled his sister along, placing his body in front of hers. He didn't like it...that expression-

«Dad» he started saying, with his face straining to remain impassive «Oi, listen...» he started, planning to reason everything out.

«I'm sorry, Raito. » Souichirou said in a pathetic, strangled voice, but he was not stopping his approach. And yet, he didn't look threatening. He looked desperate, maniacal, driven insane. Like a wild animal with rabies. It was worse than anything else – if he'd been vicious, then Raito would say that it's not his father. That it's another demon. But the very fact that he looked so desperate verified that he was, indeed, Souichirou Yagami.

«I'm so sorry...so sorry...I don't mean to!! I can't stop it!! I swear, I can't»

Unconsciously, Raito took a step backwards, squishing Sayu against the corner of the room with his body. The girl latched onto her brother's back, trembling slightly.

«Dad, step back. » Raito said, trying to keep his voice even, fisting his hands and bringing them in front of his chest and face.

«Onii-chan...Stop! W- What's going on? O-Otou-san? » Sayu asked with a trembling voice, and the very state of her powerlessness fuelled her brother's disgust towards their father and his will to prevent this.

«I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry, Sayu!!! » Souichirou was muttering, like a mantra, over and over again. Raito realized, with unfailing certainty, what the other was planning to do. He had to act! It was now or never!

«Back off! » he shouted, and was surprised to see his father look at him with an extremely intense, pleading expression.

«You have to...Raito...you have to stop me...I'm...I...» he muttered, grabbing his head and squeezing it, stopping and convulsing for a few moments, as though he was being tortured from the inside. Raito kept staring at him, unyieldingly disgusted, disturbed and irate at the same time. It was obvious, from this angle, that, whatever his father had spent the last half hour doing, the erection hadn't resided one bit. The only thing Raito was remorseful about was that his sister had to see this.

Souichirou gave one last, desolate look, his limbs and fingers all trembling «I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...» he muttered again «But I can't...I have to...if I don't do this I'll die! »

«Otou-san...w-what are you talking about!? »

«Die? Just because you can't control- dad, you idiot! How can you even-This kind of uncontrolled people is the worst!" The younger man barked, and immediately felt Sayu's hands squeeze his shoulders, as though telling him to calm down and to stop shouting.

Then, it all happened so fast. With a last shout of «I'm sorry», Souichirou pounced on them, his superior weight and mass crushing Raito. But the youngster had attacked with a fist, and managed to land a solid punch on his father's thick red neck. They both fell to the ground, and, immediately, Sayu started screaming from her place in the corner.

«Stop it!! Onii-chan, stop it!!! »

But she didn't get the chance to protest much more. Souichirou stood back up faster than Raito had thought possible for his father's age. He rounded in on the girl and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her away from the wall and throwing her forward, on the ground. He was shouting at her to forgive him the entire time.

«OTOU-SAN! What are you doing!!? » she screamed, caught unawares. But by now, Raito had recovered from his fall, and came to her rescue once more. The hatred he felt seeping inside him, the absolute disgust, was enough to amplify his strength by ten times. This time, he punched his father squarely in the cheekbone, hearing a satisfying cracking sound as the other's jaws clattered. Souichirou's glasses flew away from his face. Encouraged, Raito lost no time and landed another punch, making the other man groan in pain.

This was nothing like the rivalry fights he'd occasionally shared with Ryuuzaki. This was violent, vicious, and Raito punched not to vent, but to kill. But his father, apparently, had become just as powerful in his frenzy. He recovered from Raito's punches and then caught Raito's fist in his open palm, just as the boy was attempting a third hit.

And then, with all the force of his massive build, which put Raito's slim silhouette to great disadvantage, Souichirou grabbed the back of his son's head and slammed his skull against the metal wall. Raito heard first the echoing sounds of metal erupt in his brain and then a high-pitched scream, somewhere on the back. As his forehead made contact with the wall, he felt all the power be extinguished from his limbs; his hands flailed around until he started floundering like a fish out of the water. He had been brought against the wall with such force that his entire coordination had been damaged.

«I'm sorry, Sayu! I'm so sorry, but I can't! » Raito thought he heard an echoing voice. He was slipping in and out of consciousness. He fell on his knees and then completely prostrate, spread on the ground. Everything was spinning and he didn't know which way was up and which was down.

«...Sa...yu...» he whispered, through slit lips, and stretched a trembling hand toward the shadows he could see dancing in his vision. He heard screams and heard Sayu's bewildered cries. All those shrieks, merged with pleas for forgiveness. Spurred to action, infuriated but unable to even see clearly – let alone move – Raito tried. «...no...No...» he muttered, incomprehensive. Why the hell was this happening...? How could he have let this happen?! Why had it come to this!? That...that monster!!!

There was a ripping sound accompanied by the girl's terrified cry and, immediately after that, the telltale characteristic clinging of a male belt. Then more screams. He squinted his eyes, but all he could see was blackness, and sparkling dots dancing before his eyes. He couldn't stand it – he couldn't stand hearing it!! He wanted to cover his ears with his hands, but he had lost all control or power over his limbs.

Then a sudden female scream rose high above all others, the scream of penetration, and immediately the only thing Raito could hear were pants, groans of satisfaction and a woman's screams, along with that disgusting squelching sound that Raito knew all too well. The last thing he heard, before all conscious thought abandoned him, was his father's voice, sobbing.

-

Sayu was folded in two on the floor, curled in a foetal position and trembling. Their father was in front of her, his hands and face touching the floor, pleading and crying in near hysteria, begging for forgiveness.

Raito stumbled on his feet, unable to hold his own weight, and supported himself on the walls as he walked. He had a split lip, and blood was dripping in rivers from the back of his auburn head. He walked stiffly, trying to drown out the noises that were still ringing in his ears, as though it was happening right now: his virgin sister's terrified, uncomprehending screams, her piercing cries, as she was raped by her own father.

Unable to bear it anymore, Raito turned around and promptly threw up, making the entire room reek of something even worse than before. Obviously, someone else had also thrown up before him, in another corner of the room. Probably the girl, Raito thought, seeing her limbs convulsing neurotically.

«...Sayu...» Raito's voice was a whisper, and it wasn't meant to be heard. The girl wasn't sobbing or making any sounds, but she was trembling uncontrollably, her hands gripping her most abused body parts with white knuckles.

«Sayu...» Raito repeated, a little louder this time. A spur of dizziness erupted in his head, and he propelled forward, falling to the floor. His fath...that monster, who had heard him speak, immediately turned and stared at him, with desperation written all over his eyes. Raito didn't return his look. Instead, he stood back up stoically and walked forward, toward his defiled sister.

He didn't speak again. When he stretched his hand to touch Sayu's shoulder, her earth-shattering, drawn-out scream was so sudden that it made his skin crawl. His sister, who'd been betrayed…been forced to...to...and now she'd become afraid of any touch.

Raito ignored her screams and towed her upwards, forcing her on her knees and enveloping her with his arms. He stared at her eyes, which were alternately terrified and completely blank. He was well aware that he was a man utterly incapable of comforting any victim. But still, he did have something to say, hoping to amend.

«You are not a man. » he turned to the figure crawling on the floor, still begging and crying apologies. Souichirou didn't say anything in response; he just continued sobbing, brokenly. «You are a monster. » Raito said, his voice dead and flat, carrying the verdict of a hundred thousand souls. «And you deserve to die, because the world would be a better place without humans like you. » Souichirou's sobs heightened, they became frantic.

«You're right! » he shouted «You're right! » but Raito had made his ears deaf to all apologies. The man started clawing at his face, plucking at his hair, making ripping motions at his chest. Raito shuddered as he watched the display, remembering things that were better left forgotten.

«You're right...Raito...you're...» Souichirou whispered, brokenly, falling in a begging position once again. What an elaborate act. Were he a lesser man, Raito may have even believed that he truly was sorry.

«You are a monster! You hear?» his hate intensified, so he shouted again, growing fearless as he felt his sister's body shaking in his arms «A monster!»

By now, hearing Raito's words, Sayu also started sobbing. Her brother, not knowing how to treat her or comfort her at a time of such intense desperation, kept doing the only thing he could. He vindicated her, gave her justice...made her plight known for the world to hear. That this man was a perverted, uncontrolled monster, a rapist like any other, a-

'Where is the Death Note when I need it the most?'

«Monster!! » Raito shouted again, and his voice was almost drowned out by the deafening screams of his father's apology.

'«I will never forgive you for what you have done!!! »'

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«Urh..nng..uh..Sa...»

«Raito-kun... wake up» a dark, husky voice permeated the space of his thoughts. It was a strange voice. Had the speaker not been intentionally quiet, it would have sounded gruff and ominous. Raito thought...

...he may have heard this voice somewhere before...

«Raito-kun? ...I'm under the impression that you're having a nightmare...» and Raito felt something, a touch almost as light as a feather, shake his shoulder. Then, as though electrified, he was awake once more. Wait a minute...had he ever fallen asleep to begin with?!

«Argh!!! » he shouted, with a sudden jerk, and shot up from his lying position. The touch on his shoulder withdrew immediately. His eyes had opened, and they were now wide and hoarse staring straight ahead, without really seeing anything except Sayu's crying face. Her screams were still alive in his ears, and so were his father's chocked sobs. A shiver climbed up his spine.

When the goose-bumps were over, he bent forward in a hunching position, rubbing his eyes and sighing deeply. Only then did he realize that he was actually not in the basement any more, but in a bed. How he'd gotten himself here he didn't now; the last thing he could remember was shouting angrily at his father. But now...

He was already breathing deeply, trying to calm himself. He had gathered so much fury that it felt as though he wanted to actively bash anything in close vicinity. His own father...how could he...and his sister. The helpless girl – no; woman, he reminded himself disgustedly – who'd been crying curled up on the floor...And now, he was obviously gone from her side and couldn't even help her. His state of blind wrath, combined with the fact that he'd enjoyed a relatively stable existence for a relatively long time, made him temporarily overlook the fact that he should be searching for signs of a demon conspiracy against him.

'...that monster!'

Seeing himself suddenly transported in a different room, Raito was disoriented. At the time, his mind was entirely occupied with the nightmarish vision he had just witnessed. His throat still felt scratchy from vomiting and shouting, so it couldn't have been a huge hallucination.

His face, utterly expressionless, had now become completely dead with the exception of his eyes. There was a slow fire burning within them, a flame more irate and vehement than ever before.

'Criminals must be punished! Men like him are better off dead! Then, defenceless victims would never be hurt! That's why the Death Note is so important. There must be no mercy!'

Unconsciously, his hand formed a fist. He then realized that he was grabbing some kind of fabric, and looked downwards.

He was gripping the covers of a bed...he'd already established that. But now that he finally paid attention, he realized that it was an eerily familiar bed, with cream coloured sheets and ridiculously squishy cushions.

And then, finally, as if just now opening his eyes to the world for the first time, he recognized his surroundings. Unwilling, like the footsteps of a man led to the crucifix, his eyes slid upwards.

That orange and beige tapestry...of course. He couldn't have forgotten it no matter how many Death Notes he'd ever given up. Gingerly, moving only his eyes and not his head, he tried to discern the far right corner of his vision. Surely enough, there it was: the wooden, single-drawer night stand: the night stand where he'd first found that notorious photo. Suddenly, the solid weight of another human body on his left, which sunk the mattress he was sitting on, became entirely too real. He fixed his eyes on a spot on the wall and refused to move them away, lest he see something he was not yet prepared to accept.

Like the one who was sitting next to him.

«Raito-kun...are you all right? »

Raito's right eyebrow – that treacherous little snake – began twitching. His entire body felt as though it was being submerged in ice, with the sole exception of his heart, which appeared to be heating up instead of cooling down. He could hear breathing, soft and almost undetectable, coming from his left. By now he could recognize that breathing anywhere, having used those lungs.

And the voice...it was just like he remembered...the same voice as the demon who'd been interrogating him for eleven hours. The same voice that sent him to his doom each time. The same voice that called, «Yagami-kun», and brought him death and suffering. Suddenly, the abnormality of the situation slammed in Raito's consciousness with force, and he realized that something was entirely wrong here: how had he been teleported here from the basement of his house...?

This was part of the game. This was the game?! Disorientation?

And Ryuuzaki was right next to him. He knew it before he even had to see it. He could smell it. By now he'd learned to detect the milky scent of baby creams, which always accompanied Ryuuzaki's body. But he didn't dare turn around and verify it.

The last time he'd laid his eyes on Ryuuzaki, Ryuuzaki's jaw had been three feet long, and his head had looked like an oversized light bulb – not to mention his 'jovial' red, glowing eyes. Last time he'd seen Ryuuzaki as a 'person', Ryuuzaki had been just a small shadow, looming on the top of a building as Raito's eyes were being plucked out of their sockets.

Frankly, if Raito turned around now and saw Ryuuzaki, he didn't really know what he might do. He didn't trust himself. He wasn't sure that he wouldn't strangle Ryuuzaki – now that he could- simply out of reflex, if not malice. It was understood by his logic that Ryuuzaki, the person, was not to blame for the suffering he had persevered. However, it was extremely difficult to separate Ryuuzaki's face from the terror.

He waited more than a few moments; long enough to make sure that his voice wouldn't come out more high-pitched that usual. It wouldn't be prudent to make anyone aware of his internal struggle. He trained his face into complete neutrality and then, finally, answered.

«Of course. Everything's fine. »

A small pause and Raito could practically hear the gears clicking in that complex black-haired brain, which was obviously located directly on his left. Then Ryuuzaki spoke again, and Raito tried to prevent himself from jumping, slightly. Old habits die hard. Unfortunately, at least in the afterlife, Ryuuzaki's voice was never the signal for anything good.

«Are you positive? It would be a great hindrance to the investigation if you fell ill. »

Raito still didn't turn around; too busy evaluating Ryuuzaki's tone. The usage of syntax and vocabulary, combined with the awkward inflection, was entirely different from the one the demonic interrogator had used. Indeed...it sounded like the real person. But Raito was reluctant to take chances, at this point. He made a small, minuscule movement with his left hand, wanting to check if – ahhh. Indeed. The cold metal of a manacle made contact with his bare skin. So he had been transported to that time.

'Handcuffs.'

'I'm tied to Ryuuzaki with handcuffs, and Ryuuzaki is talking like the real person, not the demon. Could it be that this is similar to when I was transferred to my parents' house?'

But that trail of thought only led him to think of the latest development in his parents' house. And that, in turn, led his temper to be subcutaneously inflated once again.

«I'm sure. » he answered Ryuuzaki's inquiries. Naturally, still very much in character, Ryuuzaki ignored Raito's obvious annoyance and badgered on, with his annoying voice.

«We could always have Watari run a routine check-up on you, just to make certain...» the thoughtful tone came, and Raito couldn't help it anymore – it was just too good of an offer. Bracing his guts, knowing that he'd inevitably be forced to look at the other, he turned around, prepared to see a red-eyed, wide-jawed monster. But instead, his whole vision was filled by shades of white, black and pale pink.

«What, now he's a doctor, too? »

Ryuuzaki stared back cryptically with his big black eyes. For an instant, Raito forgot how to breathe, thinking he was seeing the red-eyed demon once again. But then the instant of panic passed, and the only thing Raito could see, right in front of him, was Ryuuzaki's notoriously bug-eyed face, with its void eyes and alabaster cheeks.

The detective was sitting in the customary awkward position, with his laptop resting in front of his toes. He was on top of the covers, of course: it was his policy never to fall asleep in front of primary mass murder suspects. Raito suspected that this policy of L's went more along the lines of not sleeping at all. He'd once told Raito about his «power-replenishing» technique of resting with his eyes open. Raito hadn't sympathized and they'd both left it at that.

«If it's Raito-kun, I'm sure you've noticed Watari has many talents. »

'Don't you mean 'Whammy'?' Raito thought derisively, revelling in the fact that he now knew more things about L than L thought he knew. Raito cursed his luck: he knew he should have tried to find Ryuuzaki's real name, even after L's death. You never knew when an old rival – even a dead one – may start creating problems again.

«Indeed» and his amber eyes stayed fixed on his Ryuuzaki's face. However, his thoughts begun spiralling in another direction.

Enough of this idleness, he thought. He had to figure everything out quickly. What had happened in that basement was a nightmare to be sure...but Raito was certain he'd truly experienced it – it was no dream.

'What is the torture? What should I be looking out for?' He wondered, for the umpteenth time. The display of Sayu's incestuous rape had been horrible, truly...But the only thing it had managed to do was instil in Raito a deep-rooted ire for his father. On the other hand, he should consider - now with a clearer mind - that perhaps the whole situation had been a setup, designed to disgust and emotionally torture him.

But if that was the case...then why had he been translocated into another place, all of a sudden? A place with...

«Ryuuzaki, » Raito started saying, thinking that his best course of action was to question the detective himself, and gather some information about his new situation. He was intent on asking L about the status of the Kira investigation, when something behind Ryuuzaki caught his eye...

«...huh...? » the chestnut haired boy muttered. He immediately stopped moving, trying not to even breathe too loudly. His eyes became adhered to the object of his attention. Because on the wall behind Ryuuzaki's unkempt ebony tresses, hanging over the bedpost, was a puppet with porcelain smile.

«Unusually eloquent this morning, Raito-kun» he heard the detective's caustic comment but completely ignored it, too focused to care.

«You...» Raito started, his eyes running over the trickster smile of the marionette, its glassy ciel eyes, the platinum blonde tresses and the tacky gothic Lolita apparel. He averted his eyes almost immediately, letting them fall upon Ryuuzaki's intrigued face. «Ryuuzaki» Raito started, with a rather threatening tone «Did you put this here? ». Somewhere, in the more sarcastic part of his mind, Raito noted that when Ryuuzaki was insulted, he looked a bit like the kid in the Big Ben photo.

«I beg your pardon. » the black-haired man started, his toneless voice betraying nothing of his indignation. His black hair – that hateful, disgusting batch – floated around his nape as he turned to look at the doll as well «If I recall correctly, Raito-kun was the one who ardently supported the instalment of the contraption. »

But Raito wasn't really listening. His thought processes had all shut down completely by the time he'd seen the clock settled on the night stand. The clock, with its rhythmic ticking sound. It was pointing at ten minutes past five.

A long moment passed, when Raito didn't move, blink or even breathe. He just kept staring, unblinking. So the game was continuing, here. He'd passed some phase, obviously. After spending two months in his parents' house, only to have the entire ordeal end with a...a...he didn't even want to think about it...now he was transferred to this timeline.

Handcuffed to Ryuuzaki, in the Headquarter building. Up there, if they climbed to the roof, they'd probably be able to see a television aerial platform. Raito shuddered, internally. Just remembering about the entire ordeal, even vaguely, inevitably made him think of that black hair.

Hair which, coincidentally, were resting in tresses right in front of him. He kept trying to reassemble his thoughts, but he couldn't help it. The urge to strangle Ryuuzaki – even if he technically wasn't the guilty demon and he hadn't yet done anything too annoying – was becoming almost suffocating.

«Are you sure you're all right? » he heard the detective ask again, and only then did he realize that he hadn't spoken for a long time. Even so, he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts: flashes of information were running frantically through his head. The marionette and the clock were both here...and he was willing to bet that that doll would come alive every night, just as it had before in his parents' house. «You're stranger than usual. » the detective concluded, sounding sceptical and suspicious.

'You're one to talk.' Raito thought venomously, but resumed his analysis straight away. He'd had enough indirect verbal sparring with Ryuuzaki lately to last him and afterlifetime.

Apparently, this new torture process was also moving in stages. The first stage was over, and now he had passed to the next...right? But what happened that helped him progress stages?

He'd been transported right after Sayu's rape...what had been the instigator for that horrible incident? The earthquake? And what had been the stimulus for the sudden earthquake...?

Raito remembered, clearly as day, that he had touched the doll only a few minutes before all hell had started to break loose. Had it just been a stroke of bad luck, or were the marionette and the earthquake clearly associated?

And if he touched the marionette now...would the former episode repeat itself? Would he see someone get violated again...? He didn't really want to think about such a prospect.

Seeing as it was one of those rare times that Raito was unsure about the outcome of a situation, he gritted his teeth in frustration and decided to ask for advice. Ryuuzaki was a smart man, after all. He might offer Raito some much needed sensibility.

«Oi, Ryuuzaki» he finally asked, his tone careless, as though the subject meant nothing to him. It wouldn't help to have Ryuuzaki questioning his motives, after all. «Do you think there are coincidences in the world? »

A small pause followed, in which Raito turned to gage the other's reaction. Ryuuzaki was looking at him with his black eyes narrowed. And since they were sitting relatively close, the look appeared more offensive than usual. But Raito was not as intimidated as he might have been at a time.

«Is that a trick question? » a small, emphatical pause «Yagami-kun? »

Raito wasn't fast enough to suppress his flinch. The moment Ryuuzaki had said his surname, the auburn haired man almost started yelling automatically. Ryuuzaki's eyes narrowed further, obviously intrigued by this new, strange conduct. And, Raito should not forget, Ryuuzaki was still looking for clues that he is Kira. Seeing as Raito hadn't had his memories before, it had been relatively easy to sidestep Ryuuzaki's suspicion. But now...now, having already being caught by Near, he felt as though the name 'KIRA' was stamped on his forehead with bold red letters. He had to try and keep a colder composure around L, especially seeing as they were going to spend a lot of bonding time together, what with the handcuffs and all.

'...This is the last thing I wanted.'

«Do you? » Raito persisted, sidestepping the way he'd flinched before.

Still with narrowed eyes, and a thumb between his plush lips, Ryuuzaki finally responded, with his mechanical voice «I don't believe there is lack of correlation between events in this world. »

Raito stared at him for a moment more, and then turned back to the marionette, still hanging there, perfectly motionless, as though daring him to touch it and see for himself if another natural catastrophe would occur.

And he wasn't sure whether or not they had a basement in Headquarters.

«Neither do I. » he agreed. He felt more than saw Ryuuzaki turn and stare at him, with that familiar piercing gaze.

Raito decided that he should wait a bit more – reacquaint himself with the specific environmental conditions… and mostly with Ryuuzaki's annoying perceptiveness – before he tried to touch any other satanic dolls.

-

He knew he shouldn't have been bothered, but he still was. Well, it was only natural. He was in a room full of files, folders and computer screens and couldn't read any of them. Whenever Raito picked up any kind of readable material, be it a file, a book, a newspaper, or even a bleeding clothe tag, he still couldn't read a thing. They all looked like blank papers, in his eyes. This extended for the computer screens, of course. And whilst this had been a bothersome problem in his previous lodging, in the Kira investigation Headquarters it was a complete handicap.

So while Ryuuzaki was clicking away with his mouse – barely touching it, of course – or typing in extravagant speed on his keyboard, the only thing Raito could do was just sit there, staring at the white, blank computer screen in front of him like an idiot. What was the best course of action? To tell Ryuuzaki that he was losing his vision and suffer utter humiliation, or to just keep quiet and act like he was actually reading something?

The first time the Headquarters' main door had opened, to admit Watari and a tower of cupcakes, the only thing Raito could see behind it was a black, bottomless void. Apparently, the same rules stood in this place as for his parents' house. The Headquarters' front door was the 'end of the world' for him.

Everyone else could freely interact with the environment, except for him – as though he were a ghost. It was like a slice of his life had been taken, exactly from his memories, and represented here. He was willing to bet that if he ever attempted to walk through that main door then he'd find himself transported back to the bedroom with the marionette. Not that Ryuuzaki would ever let him walk that far on his own, of course.

Raito had also observed certain other things, in the mirror: for one, he obviously wasn't a teenager. He looked twenty-three, the same age he had been when he'd died. But this was entirely inconsistent with the real events in his life, since, in actuality, he'd been in this building with Ryuuzaki when he was eighteen years old. This new environment also shared something else with the former one. At five o'clock every morning, the clock would start moving counter-clockwise. Raito knew this because he had forcefully dragged Ryuuzaki upstairs, to the bedroom, specifically to verify this phenomenon.

The moment the clock began counting inversely, the marionette's eyes would start moving. Raito had specifically taken note of this, along with one other thing: Ryuuzaki, who, unlike Raito, was a part of this environment, appeared ignorant to these changes in the surrounding objects. Raito remembered the particular conversation they'd had that day:

«Look at the clock. » Raito had said, dragging Ryuuzaki forward when approaching the small night table. He'd wanted to search for the photo before, but he couldn't do it without Ryuuzaki noticing. Besides, he doubted it would be there anyway.

«Yagami-kun» Raito had learned to suppress his winces «I'm beginning to consider Matsuda-san may be right. There is now a probability of fifteen point two percent that our work really is taking a toll on your mental capacity. » a small pause to let the sarcasm sink in «A clock, Raito-kun? »

«Ryuuzaki...Just look at it, will you? » Raito said sourly, intent on having his constant anxiety justified by another observer. «There, you see it? » he asked immediately, when he saw the pointers starting to count counter-clockwise.

«Yes, it's fascinating. It indicates we've already lost seven minutes of precious investigation time. » L answered, with his wide eyes and mechanic voice, making Raito very nearly slap his palm on his forehead. It wasn't long before he realized that he wouldn't be getting anywhere with this. In Ryuuzaki's eyes, the clock appeared to be ticking perfectly naturally. Raito soon realized that Ryuuzaki couldn't detect any significant difference in the puppet either.

Seems as though Raito was the only one who could see...he wasn't hallucinating, was he?

'No, damn it! No!' He internally persisted, knowing that this confusion and uncertainty was part of a greater scheme. A 'competition', as the demon had put it. But a competition of what? The terms were unclear this time.

By now, the only thing he had succeeded in was to make Ryuuzaki look at him with increasing suspicion. Well, it couldn't be helped. He'd been posing questions about analogical clocks and Misa-shaped puppets. His co-workers were bound to think he was going insane. But the worst of all was that, since he couldn't read anything, he had nothing to do all day long, and he couldn't become integrated into his surroundings no matter what.

He doubted Ryuuzaki wanted to do anything except for work. Naturally, since Raito was an equal workaholic, he also would have enjoyed researching the investigation, if he could actually read something.

Nevertheless, Ryuuzaki's insomnia and passion about the case could be seen equally as a curse and a blessing, since the last thing Raito wanted, for obvious reasons, was to return to the puppet-infested bedroom at night.

But, as the chestnut haired youngster was doomed to discover sooner or later, the situation could and would get worse. Namely, the day Souichirou Yagami had first set foot in the building, looking composed and calm. As though nothing had happened, which, technically, it hadn't.

But still. That experience, albeit produced by a hallucination, had been very eye-opening for Raito concerning his father's true nature.

That day, upon seeing his unperturbed pervert of a father, the young Yagami hadn't managed to keep the fury bottled up. Knowing that he couldn't attack Souichirou in front of everyone else, and seeing as he didn't have the Death Note in his hands, he'd picked a cheap fight with Ryuuzaki just to vent his frustrations. And this time, he'd kept attacking with such vigour that both Matsuda and Mogi were forced to mobilize in order for the tussle, to be resolved. By the end of the match, Mogi and Matsuda had been pulling each – supposedly composed – rival away from the other.

Raito had still felt the indentation of Ryuuzaki's knee buried in his abdomen... but he had also still sensed the satisfactory collision of Ryuuzaki's neck with his knuckles. Souichirou had actually had the tars to march up to his son and admonish him for his 'despicable, uncontrolled behaviour'. By now, Raito wanted his Death Note so much that his fingers were practically itching. Ironically enough, it had been L who had diffused the tension, bringing everyone's attention back to the investigation tasks.

His suspicion of Raito, of course, had started amplifying steadily. Raito could now understand why: he'd spent all those hours impersonating Ryuuzaki during the interrogation that there were few elements of Ryuuzaki's point of view that he hadn't examined. The only part of Ryuuzaki that was completely unpredictable was, like with all humans, his emotional involvement. But, looking at Ryuuzaki now and sizing him up, Raito thought that Ryuuzaki probably didn't have any emotional involvement with anything, except maybe cream puffs.

Unfortunately, now that Raito carried all his memories – of life and death – with him, he was more volatile than he had been at the time he'd been handcuffed to L. Raito was aware that he'd become easier to shock, more likely to show his anger. He hated it that he was losing control this way...but being thrown and tortured repeatedly could change a person. And now, faced with the composed Ryuuzaki, who hadn't changed at all from what Raito remembered, Raito's degeneration was becoming more pronounced. He cursed himself. His entire life had been based on the principle of manipulation of words. When he spoke, he never spoke the truth. And if he ever was forced to, then he never spoke it with true sentiment.

It was an integral element of his personality – as it was Ryuuzaki's – to omit and distort the truth. To speak the truth, but not quite. To think and live with elision. And now he was failing this basic value, having become more straightforward and less subtle. This path would only lead him to more failure, he knew.

At least, a good aspect of this new reality was that, once again, he was rid of Misa. From what he had gathered from snippets of conversations, he had apparently split up with Misa in this reality too. She'd obviously 'sent him that mannequin as a breaking-up present'. How thoughtful of her.

Perhaps the strangest and most unsettling thing was that, even though there where surveillance cameras in her room and L never seemed to worry about her, when Raito looked at the surveillance screens of her room, he could never see her anywhere. As though she was…simply not there. Misa's absence, under the specific circumstances, was perhaps more disquieting than her presence. And why was the doll shaped like Misa, anyway? Was someone making a statement about Raito's relationship with her...?

'Is Misa doing this?'

And it all boiled down to the first and basal question, in the end: 'What is the goal of this torture? Why am I being put through this? The rape of my sister? It was traumatic, but not torturous...if not for that, then why...?'

He had to find out. He was the one who had to take the first step this time…that much had been established before.

When living in his parents' house, he'd lasted nearly two months. Now, he could hardly wait two weeks. There had been no change, and Raito was becoming more and more certain of what he had to do. Ten days after he'd first woken up under Ryuuzaki's scrutinizing gaze, Raito had finally asked the black-haired detective to let him go upstairs and get some sleep.

Whatever was going to happen - and Raito was sure that it wouldn't be nice – it was going to be better than just sitting there, doing nothing, seeing his father and wanting to strangle him. Besides, anything that would happen now probably couldn't be worse than what had already happened. Seeing his sister be raped by their own father in front of his very eyes was indeed a powerful experience, Raito had realized. He couldn't imagine something even more disturbing being presented to him this time around.

Feeling new conviction and having gained the will to end this – he really couldn't stand seeing Ryuuzaki eat another box of éclairs – he reached out to touch the doll's hand, ignoring the investigator's mystified gaze.

The porcelain blue eyes moved and focused on him immediately, even though it wasn't five o'clock yet.

-

The phones started ringing at eight o'clock that morning. Ryuuzaki had been sitting on his metallic chair, eyes transfixed on the screen and mouth munching on a chocolate bar with silver wrapping, while Raito had been sitting next to him, staring at a blank screen, waiting for something – anything – to happen.

Then, suddenly, the phone on Ryuuzaki's right started ringing – the intercom phone which was connected directly to Watari. Raito was jarred out of his musings when he felt the handcuff chain jingle and he turned just in time to see Ryuuzaki raising the phone, with that characteristic way of his.

It had taken time, of course, for Raito to reacquaint himself with these gestures that he had thought he'd never see again. On the one hand, the familiarity of Ryuuzaki's annoying presence gave him some peace of mind...but on the other, he was living under the constant strain of dealing with the eccentric detective's suspicion. He remembered how glad he'd been when Ryuuzaki had finally died...now everything was reversed once again. Seems like he'd never rid himself of this man's plague, not even in death.

But Ryuuzaki was the least of Raito's worries, for once. More importantly...

«Watari. » Ryuuzaki stated, without preamble. Raito couldn't clearly hear what the voice on the other end of the line was saying. The only thing he could note was that Watari sounded slightly distressed. Evaluating Ryuuzaki's calm reaction, Raito supposed it couldn't be something extremely important. It wasn't uncommon for Watari to call them when discovering some new clue. Besides, Ryuuzaki kept sending invoices to the old butler in order to acquire more sweets.

«What's going on, Ryuuzaki? » Raito asked, after a few moments had passed and Ryuuzaki still didn't seem to be reacting. When the detective heard his co-worker's call, he pulled the phone speaker away from his face and turned around.

«Apparently» he started, temporarily ignoring the phone and addressing Raito «Yagami-san has brought Sayu-san to stay with us in the Headquarters, since Raito-kun's mother was hospitalized this morning. » Ryuuzaki knew Raito's sister by name, seeing as he had 'thoroughly invigilated' the Yagami household.

«Sayu's coming here? » Raito said, unable to restrain himself and his surprise, along with the sickly feeling that suddenly gripped his gut. Sayu. «And you're going to allow it? ...my mom's ill? » He didn't seem to worry terribly about his mother's health, in contrast to any normal son. Ryuuzaki narrowed his eyes at this, but apparently overlooked it. Instead, he brought the phone back to his ear – but not close enough to touch his cheek – and spoke to Watari.

«Let Sayu-san inside...» he started, and Raito was amazed that the notoriously suspicious detective had allowed this so easily «But don't let her understand what we're doing here, or that her brother is with us. »

«I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that, Ryuuzaki» Watari's voice sounded robotic through the phone. Now that the old man was speaking more clearly, Raito could understand what he was saying. «Yagami-san has already informed her...»

Raito felt more than heard the black haired man's pale jaw click – he was probably weary of his subordinates' idiocy. «In that case, there is no choice but to detain her. »

«Detain her? » Matsuda, who was sitting nearby, repeated worriedly. Raito vaguely remembered the interest Matsuda had shown in his sister... But Ryuuzaki hadn't paused and was still speaking, so Raito didn't have much more time to ponder.

«...then take her to one of the monitored guest rooms...»

Raito wasn't paying attention. Thoughts were running through his head frantically. The situation was becoming derailed and Ryuuzaki was acting extremely out of character. Under no circumstances would he normally have agreed to allow an uninterrogated ex-suspect to enter this building. Something was wrong here...and the sudden appearance of Sayu...

In fact, the situation and Ryuuzaki's reactions were too strange, and Raito couldn't stop himself from recalling he had touched the doll only three hours earlier. Since nothing horrible had taken place yet, he'd supposed that he'd been wrong after all, and that the doll was not associated with anything. But now, Sayu was showing up...And Raito didn't like the implications of his father and Sayu located in the same place together anymore.

What if this was just another setting where he'd be forced to watch his father rape Sayu once again? Raito gritted his teeth, unconsciously. In that case, he wouldn't let himself be defeated this time – he'd surely prevent it from happening. And if he had to kill his own monster of a father to do so, then so be it.

'But if that's the case, then why bring me to this alternate reality? If my goal is to stop Sayu from being raped, then why wasn't I sent back to my parents' house, to repeat the whole sequence?'

Seeing the pale detective lower the receiver, Raito tried to clear his thoughts. There must be some meaning in these occurrences. They may seem independent from each other at first glance, but there must be some pattern that he ought to detect, before it's too late.

The main door opened and in came his father, followed closely by Sayu, who was looking shy and downcast. «Sayu! » Raito called, standing up immediately, dragging Ryuuzaki's hand along with him. Had Raito been paying attention, he would have seen Ryuuzaki's face acquire a look of intense curiosity as he watched the siblings interact.

«Onii-chan! » and her face seemed to light up considerably at the sight of her brother.

The mere sight of Souichirou near the girl made Raito's head pound. If that man even touched a hair on her head then Raito would-

«What's that? » Matsuda's voice suddenly, breaking everyone's concentration.

«What? » Mogi asked, right away. But Matsuda didn't have the time to specify, since, all of a sudden, a loud treble was heard.

«EARTHQUAKE!!! » someone shouted from the far left, when they all felt the ground begin to slip away. Raito's stomach suddenly leaped to his throat, as he realized that everything was repeating itself. First Sayu, then the earthquake. He'd been right! It really was the doll! He was now frozen in his standing position, watching as time became suspended around him, and everything started to move in slow motion. He knew what was going to happen now: the building...the building would-

The chestnut-haired man barely had time to register a cry before the ground started to tremble like a palpitating heart. His auburn bangs flew around his face as he dropped to the ground, barely managing to register a loud crash from his right: Ryuuzaki's metallic chair had also hit the floor. Various breaking and clattering sounds were coming from every direction, seeing as the files and folders that Raito couldn't read were crumbling. Then, Raito heard a shrill shriek coming from the direction of the entrance.

«Sayu! » he shouted in response, by now able to recognize those screams anywhere. His lying position, accompanied with the unstable ground and the rapidly deteriorating furniture, allowed him to catch only a brief sight of the girl and Souichirou as they collapsed on the ground, falling on one another. Raito saw red upon seeing them.

Frantically, knowing he wouldn't be able to walk steadily on his feet, he started hoisting himself on his elbows and trying to drag himself in the direction of his sister.

But, in his hurry, he'd neglected the chain and the person he was bound to. He hadn't managed to crawl even a little further before he met a heavy resistance. 'Damn Ryuuzaki, not being cooperative,' Raito thought. 'He's probably too scared to walk.' Turning around and fighting to discern the detective's blank face and white shirt, he gasped when he met a pool of red instead.

«Ryuuzaki! »

He was split in two: on the one hand, Sayu was still screaming, possibly being pulverized by rubble. But on the other, Ryuuzaki had somehow managed to bang his head on the metallic desk as he fell. In any case, there was a thin river of scarlet liquid streaming on the floor beneath his black hair, and his expression was the same as it had been when...

'When he'd died.'

Just the sight of that hair, combined with the blood, almost made Raito retch right then and there.

«Argh!! » someone cried, and Raito turned immediately. During this panic, he was also trying to find cover, since bits of plaster from the ceiling were already battering his back. But what he saw was even more crippling. The giant metallic «L» sign, which had been poised on the wall above the main entrance, was shaking precariously on its hinges. Raito's pupils dilated impossibly, as his vision skittered downwards, only to see that Sayu's frail body was located directly beneath the sign.

He cursed in his mind, realizing that he was immobilized as long as Ryuuzaki was unconscious. In a few seconds of indecision, during which the bottom corner of the 'L' sign became unhinged, Raito realized that he had no electives. With a violent jerk of his hands, he leaped backwards toward Ryuuzaki's body, hitting a chair with his back. Losing no time, he grabbed Ryuuzaki's bare ankle and pulled himself forwards, dragging himself nearer to the detective.

«This is your fault» he muttered in unconscious ears, as he heard more cries around him. Suddenly, a huge crashing sound echoed from the middle of the room, and Raito realized that the ceiling had started falling apart for good. And the biggest problem was that the blasted quake wasn't stopping.

Knowing that he'd have to act now if he wanted to separate his sister from their father, he grabbed L around the torso and pulled forward.

But the detective, predictably, was too heavy to be towed. Having no alternative, Raito gritted his teeth. He then looped one arm around Ryuuzaki's back and the other around the man's denim clad knees, attempting to stand up and carry Ryuuzaki to the other side of the room. But the chain wasn't facilitating the process, and the ground was shaking too strongly. And by now, entire chunks of the ceiling had collapsed.

«Ugh-» Raito groaned, and fell to his knees. It was impossible. He couldn't do it. Ryuuzaki was too heavy and the whole world was galvanizing. He had to find cover, now, before it was too late. Without further thought, he dove under the metal counter, which was supporting all the computer screens. By now, all this electronic equipment was breaking down; giving off dying sparks of electricity. Raito pulled the other man's incapacitated body as close under the counter as he could. He tried to avoid touching the detective's head, which was slick with blood by now.

«AHHHH!!!! » he heard a scream and squinted to see what was happening at the other end of the room. The «L» sign finally became fully dislodged, and tore the entire wall down as it fell. There was a blood-curdling cracking sound when the sign came in contact with the ground – obviously, it had fallen on someone.

Screams and yells echoed everywhere, along with the incessant rumbling of the earthquake, and Raito covered his ears. Then, a drowned, desperate cry of «Otou-san» echoed, and the youngster fought to discern what was happening. The next thing he knew, he saw his own father's body, bent in an unnatural angle under the sharp corner of a huge, metallic «L», with the upper corner of the «L» buried in his forehead.

'What!?' He thought, entirely confused as he watched Matsuda, who had hidden under a desk, be crushed by a wad of brick from the ceiling. 'How can he be dead?! Wasn't he supposed to...rape her? '

It wasn't stopping. What had started as a small panic quickly developed into a mass slaughter. The pieces of cement that had fallen had raised a cloud of dust, so Raito couldn't see what was happening on the other side of the room. But he was fairly sure that Sayu had been killed, sliced in two, just like the rest of them. He'd seen Mogi, who had been closest to the lamps, be electrified by a stray cable. It had possibly been the most chilling thing Raito had ever seen. Mogi's jaw and teeth had clacked like those of a moving skeleton; and his eyes, which had rolled backwards, had soon been scorched into two holes of oozing blood. Until, finally, his body had collapsed on the ground, dead.

More screams. They were all dying. Was L dead too – Raito couldn't tell right then. Was this his torture? Seeing people die and being left as the only survivor?

'Was this his torture?'

He covered his head, folded his body and waited for the world to stop falling.

-

He didn't know how long it had been since the earthquake was finally over. The building, amazingly, had not collapsed. Raito could only suppose that it was built in a specific resistant way. However the room was completely smashed. Everything was in ruins, littered by corpses here and there. There was still some debris falling from the ceiling, so it wasn't completely safe to roam around.

«ng...» Raito suddenly heard a groan, the only indication of life around him, and he turned, alarmed, to see Ryuuzaki wake up. One black eye opened first, followed by the other. Ryuuzaki blinked a few times, obviously incomprehensive but trying not to show it. Raito helped him sit up and almost laughed aloud at the sight the other presented, with his hair – sticky with blood – sticking up haphazardly, and his null-black eyes squinting.

«Raito...kun? » he murmured disbelievingly, eyes focusing first on the other man and then sliding over the ravaged surroundings. «What i-» Ryuuzaki started saying, but his pale forehead started sinking forward as though it had a barbell inside it, so he stopped speaking. He raised a long-fingered palm to hold his skull and Raito automatically touched the detective's shoulder, to steady him.

«Earthquake. » he said, as though it explained everything, which it did. A light of realization dawned in Ryuuzaki's eyes, but he made no other indication of understanding other than that. Instead, he turned around, observing the surroundings, probably evaluating the irreversible damage done to three years of Kira investigation. Upon seeing the corpses of their co-workers lying in bloody heaps, Ryuuzaki made no sound. Then after a while of staring at Mogi's crisped, scorched corpse, he spoke.

«Watari»

It was more a statement than a question. Had someone known where to look, which Raito did, they may have detected a tinge of imperceptible remorse, or sadness, in Ryuuzaki's voice.

Raito felt a chill grip his heart, since he'd heard Ryuuzaki use that tone only once before – the moment before he died. He quickly admonished himself for being so whimsical at this time of crisis. Rather than sit around and recollect, now was the time to think of his sister, his father, and the purpose of this episode!

Suddenly, there was a small rumbling sound from the far side of the room, from beyond the fallen computers and desks. Raito whirled around just in time to see a few pieces of cement rolling to the floor, just as a trembling human hand shot through the fallen debris.

«Someone's alive. » the detective gave the customary gratuitous statement, with a voice that sounded a bit hoarser than usual. Raito looked at him from the corner of his eye: the right side of Ryuuzaki's head was powdered with blood, and it was almost shocking to see that the pale shirt had also been dirtied. The detective's eyes were impossibly wide and his knees were clutched near his chest more firmly than usual. Raito had spent enough time in that body to be able to understand that Ryuuzaki probably wasn't feeling extremely sober yet.

More importantly than Ryuuzaki's comfort, however, there was the newcomer to consider. Who was the person who had managed to survive the catastrophe? His father, Mogi and Matsuda were out of the question, since Raito had seen them die with his own eyes. It might be some other member of the investigation. Or it might even be his sister, whose death Raito hadn't yet confirmed.

«C'mon» Raito muttered, crawling out of their metallic shelter. He was aware that it was still dangerous to wander around without a buffer against the falling debris, but what could he do? It was already a miracle that the person under the rubble hadn't died. If Raito didn't help them soon, they would die for certain, out of suffocation.

«Raito-kun» Ryuuzaki started, and Raito felt the chain pull him back. He gritted his teeth silently, and then turned around to face his nemesis. «We should wait until the environment stabilizes. » Ryuuzaki was wearing that look, the one he always had when thinking about risking his own life. It was ironically expected, of course, that Ryuuzaki, much like Raito himself, was extremely cautious of his own hide. Oh he was sad about people dying, to be sure. But he'd never give up his own life to save anyone. Under normal circumstances neither would Raito. It's just that he was prepared to do anything in order to escape this torture-nightmare. And if saving someone was what he had to do, then he would obey and be done with it.

«They will have died by then. » Raito answered, curtly and clearly.

«It's a shame, but it can't be helped» the detective shot back, his black eyes wide and hair haphazard. «If we go now we shall die too. Better one death than three. »

Raito could barely see a vein pumping frantically on the side of Ryuuzaki's throat, mostly because he'd been looking for it. Ryuuzaki's body temperature tended to become extremely heated at times of anxiety – Raito knew this from experience. This was proof that the detective was much more nervous than he was letting on. Raito revelled in this knowledge.

If there was one thing he had learned during the time of the nightmarish interrogation was that, unlike his previous suppositions, Ryuuzaki's body was exactly like that of any other human. Ergo, Ryuuzaki's sentiments were exactly the same as those of any other human – regardless of how much the detective subdued them. Raito was comforted by the fact that he'd finally managed to prove that Ryuuzaki could be affected, even though he'd proved it indirectly.

And now, Raito realized with a certain amount of relish, Ryuuzaki was scared. Scared out of his wits, probably. The room was smashed. The exits were blocked. The detective's precious machinery was irreparably destroyed, and his trusted crew were killed gruesomely. Now the notoriously unapproachable L was left isolated with the prime suspect. Raito was willing to bet that, being the world's best detective and all, Ryuuzaki had always manipulated situations from afar, but never actually been part of a crisis.

«You coward. » Raito spat before he could stop himself, the urge to punch Ryuuzaki overcoming him. Even though he had all his memories of being Kira, his anger at seeing Ryuuzaki's inner manipulative nature wasn't appeased. He'd always known that Ryuuzaki was internally a devious bastard. The only thing that pissed him off is that the detective would never admit it. «You're afraid of dying and that's all you have to say? »

Ryuuzaki just stared at him for a few moments. He opened his mouth as though to answer, but he was suddenly interrupted by a shaking, strangled voice.

«..chan...» a shrill, broken little sound came from the direction of the crumbled wreckage. The two quarrelling rivals stopped bickering immediately, turning to the direction of the ruins. The hand was know shaking violently, gripping anything it could. It was still being battered by small pieces of falling cement.

«...nii-chan...»

It only took milliseconds for Raito to make the connection between the petite, female hand and the crying voice. «Sayu! » he gasped immediately, and hoisted himself out of the shelter. He met some resistance from the chain yet again, but this time, having realized it was his sister in danger, he pulled Ryuuzaki violently forward. Ryuuzaki gave a small sound of surprise as he was manhandled. Raito couldn't really understand why – the detective should have expected it.

«Sayu...I'm coming to get you. » he called, walking towards the rubble. He tried to avoid staring at the multiple corpses that littered the surroundings. Mogi's corpse – fried to death. His father's body – stabbed by the humungous «L». Ryuuzaki, who hadn't been awake when all these deaths took place, was now observing each and every piece of information with ardour. Raito gave him credit for not flinching. He knew that, deep down, Ryuuzaki was probably feeling just as nauseous as he was.

«...onii-chan...» the weak voice tried again, and by now Raito had reached her hand. He took her palm in his own and held it strongly, feeling Sayu respond with a weak, but determined, tightening of her fingers. Good, at least she was aware.

«Onii-chan?! Onii-chan! Help me!! » her strangled tone called, much stronger than before, and Raito was temporarily at a loss as to how to free her. The pieces of cement she was buried under seemed impenetrable at first glance.

Raito looked around wildly «Hold on, Sayu.» he called, now feeling extremely protective of her after what he'd seen her go through, even if it was technically a hallucination. «I'll get you out. » he reassured her with a tightening of his hand on hers. Then he let go of her and stepped back in order better to observe the brick obstacle. He could see Ryuuzaki from the corner of his hand – the man was standing near the computers, staring at the broken, trashed screens and obviously lamenting over all his lost work. Raito ignored him for now and focused back to the task at hand. Namely, saving his sister. Perhaps that was the purpose of this hallucination. Keeping her safe from harm.

Raito kept looking at the fallen cement. The chunks were huge and there was no way he could remove them using only his bare hands... it was a miracle Sayu herself had survived. He'd have to find some other way. But time was passing and Sayu's precious air supply was becoming thinner and thinner. Five minutes had passed and Raito hadn't come up with anything knew. He'd located some metal poles he'd thought he could use as tools, but there was no way he could reach them or dislodge them from the fallen walls.

«Damn it» he muttered, unable to contain himself.

«Raito-kun» Raito jumped slightly from surprise upon hearing Ryuuzaki's voice. The bastard detective had come to stand right next to him, facing the terrible pile of wreckage under which his sister was dying. «It's too dangerous to upset the debris, or it might collapse even further and crush her. »

«You've got any better ideas? » a cranky Raito asked, suppressing his urge to rub his temples. Just as he finished speaking, he heard a sound from the ceiling. Realizing the danger and moving out of reflex, he dived to the right and pulled the detective with him, narrowly avoiding being hit a falling wad of brick.

«Normally, I'd suggest we dig» Ryuuzaki started, pretending the incident hadn't happened «But since it's not an option in this case...» his black eyes looked pointedly at the metallic floor «I'd say our best chance is to move the upper plaques just enough for Sayu-san to move, and then pull her outside before the rubble worsens.»

Raito almost couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes «So you reach the same conclusion but with more words? » Not waiting for Ryuuzaki to answer him, since his sister's time was running out, Raito turned to the nearby wall and pointed at the metal poles sticking out of it «We need one of those. » he ordered, all pretence of politeness gone.

He ran toward the poles, feeling Ryuuzaki follow him. When Raito heard a groan from behind, he immediately turned around, seeing Ryuuzaki holding one of his feet in one hand and closely inspecting it. Sure enough, there was a screw buried in the detective's naked skin, right beneath his big toe.

«Serves you right for not wearing shoes» Raito simply said, waiting for a neutral-faced Ryuuzaki to take care of it.

«It's much more comfortable…under normal circumstances. » the detective answered and, with a soft grumble, pulled the nail out of his foot. There was some blood, but Ryuuzaki didn't seem troubled, so Raito didn't press the matter.

«Watch out! » Raito called suddenly, seeing a chunk of the ceiling dangling precariously a few meters away. It would be very unfortunate if Ryuuzaki were to die now – Raito would be forced to drag a dead weight around all day long. «We have to hurry. »

Not much was said after that. They both sprinted toward the wall – Ryuuzaki now extra careful of not stepping on anything inconspicuous.

They were soon faced with a new problem, however.

The metal rods were located in a crevice of the crumbling wall, but neither man was tall enough to reach them. Seeing as the detective was the more flexible and Raito was the stronger of the two, it was decided that Raito would hold Ryuuzaki up as the detective would reach for the instruments.

«Have you got them yet?! » Raito shouted. He was bent over, with Ryuuzaki standing on his back. It was by no means a comfortable position.

«No, Raito-kun...a little higher? » came the composed and infuriating tone.

«Yes, well...» Raito started, and tried his best to raise his body without throwing Ryuuzaki off «Now? »

«Just a moment...» Raito patiently waited. But when more than a moment had passed and he'd heard no satisfying clinking of metal, he groaned. Damn that inept creature. And he was heavy as hell too, even though he didn't look it.

«Ryuuzaki! »

«I'm trying, Raito-kun. »

«Try harder! »

«Don't be insistent, Raito-ku-»

«Ryuuzaki! »

The cling of metal finally came, and Raito saw three metallic poles dropping on the floor, alarmingly near his body.

«You did that on purpose, didn't you? » Raito spat, referring to the fact that the poles had narrowly missed pulverizing his head.

«I couldn't support that weight, Raito-kun. »

By now, Raito had realized that any attempt to reason with Ryuuzaki would lead to sure failure. He wasn't all that remorseful when he suddenly stood up, launching Ryuuzaki off his back. Thankfully, Ryuuzaki was flexible and had fast reflexes, so he didn't drop to the floor like a complete sack of potatoes.

«...that hurt. » the detective concluded in candour, with an entirely expressionless face that could provoke zero sympathy whatsoever.

«More importantly, my sister! » Raito said, grabbing two of the metal rods and handing one to the detective, who had stood up by now. He didn't want Ryuuzaki to find some way to hurt him in return – his back was already aching.

They ran back to the pyramid of ruins, under which Sayu was shaking and suffocating. They hadn't been more than seven minutes, in total, but they still had to hurry.

«Quick! » Raito instructed, unable to quench his commanding nature at a time of crisis, even though he knew Ryuuzaki disliked being bossed around. He started using the metal rod as a means to violently sweep the debris – which would have been dangerous to handle with bare hands – away from the pile. «Start from the top. »

And so they worked. Ryuuzaki, as he had once claimed, was indeed 'rather strong'. They were trying not to step on the pile, just to use their tools – or any other object they could find – to swipe the smaller pieces of cement away. As they got rid of the smaller parts and reached the level of Sayu's hand, they had to deal with larger pieces. They were eventually forced to use their bare hands, but were very careful not to let any protruding nails pierce their palms.

«Be careful not to strike Sayu-san by accident. » Ryuuzaki advised when they were removing rubble that was near Sayu's hand. The problem was that they had to keep the level of the debris even at all times, since; otherwise, it might collapse further and hurt the girl.

«Sayu! Hold on! » Raito shouted at some point, when they were getting close. It was a miracle that no debris from the decomposing ceiling had struck them yet.

When they finally caught sight of her face, frightened, tear-stained and desperate, buried in a small crevice of darkness, she smiled brokenly and cried «Onii-chan! »

«Hold on! » he answered. It took a few more minutes until she could move her upper body freely. Now only her legs were buried. Ryuuzaki's flexibility was of use, since he could bend and move pieces of cement from different angles. It took some more time until her body was completely released. But by now, since they'd focused on freeing her, the surface of the pile of rubble had become uneven, and there was real danger that it would collapse again.

«Quickly» the detective's instructed, with his voice just as monotone and calm as always «Pull her away. »

«Sayu, can you walk? » Raito urgently asked, holding Sayu's forearm and pulling her toward him. The girl shook her head desperately and clung to her brother. But the rubble was shaking precariously behind her. At this rate, it was going to fall and bury them all.

«We have to move. » Ryuuzaki said again with a slightly louder tone – which still betrayed nothing – and stepped backwards. But, ironically, his favourite handcuffs prevented him from distancing himself from Raito.

«Easier said than done. » Sayu's brother said, more to himself than to anyone else. Thank God Sayu's feminine body was as light as a feather – unlike Ryuuzaki's – and Raito could easily gather it in his arms. Gingerly, he carried her away.

But by now, as a result of their dismantling the central ruins, the entire floor was littered with pieces of cement. They could barely navigate around the fallen wrecked walls and there was no question of exiting the room – all the doors were blocked. As if that wasn't enough, with Sayu's removal, the pyramid of rubble lost its basic support and started to clatter. A rockslide would soon follow.

«This way, quickly. » Ryuuzaki pulled on the chain to catch Raito's attention, and the chestnut-haired man could recognize the detective's anxiety even without seeing his expressionless face. As he ran behind Ryuuzaki, with Sayu's arms wrapped around his neck, he could see the taut lines of the detective's shoulder blades beneath the white shirt. This was the only visual proof that Ryuuzaki was under stress.

«Ahhh!!! » Sayu's high-pitched scream echoed around them. They all felt more than heard the debris collapsing behind them. Raito had barely dived behind the solid boulder-like piece of wreckage that Ryuuzaki had led him to, before the central source of danger in the surroundings released its anger.

As the horrible sounds clattered around them, they could only hope that their weak temporary shelter would be enough to protect them. Raito felt his sister's small, slim hands grasp his nape and hold on, as if her life was hanging on a thread and he was her only beacon of salvation.

But Raito's attention was on his left, where Ryuuzaki, with the dried blood covering the right side of his face, was leaning his head against the cement. The detective's eyes were closed, for once – the thick black eyelashes fluttering stark against the pale skin. The line of his jaw was sharper than usual – it was clenched. A quick perusal verified that the long fingers were almost digging into denim-clad jeans – he was gripping that hard.

'So this is what Ryuuzaki looks like when he's scared,' Raito thought. But instead of the pleasure he expected to feel upon seeing the arch of Ryuuzaki's sparse eyebrows, he felt...a kind of...

Ryuuzaki looked different when he didn't have any excuse to flaunt his intelligence. He looked… almost human.

'His skin...kind of looks like that of a woman.'

The thought was so sudden that it took Raito by surprise. He just sat there, not realizing that he was staring, too surprised by his unexpected discovery. That expression on Ryuuzaki's face wasn't the usual neutral one. Raito didn't know why it was different, or how...but somehow, in that moment...

'He looks...defenceless. '

Helpless. Suffering. Yes, Raito had often wished to see Ryuuzaki's black eyes wide with desperation... But the satisfaction of this triumph had always been denied. Even when he'd actually died, Ryuuzaki hadn't looked exactly desperate – he'd looked self-satisfied. He hadn't given Raito the pleasure of seeing a broken, devastated, frightened face. After that, with the appearance of L's successors, Raito's sense of loss had been heightened. Raito had thought that he'd feel better once he'd see L's devastated face – that he'd feel like a conqueror.

But, actually, Ryuuzaki's defenceless face looked much different than Raito had imagined.

A vibration ran through the cement which was protecting them, signifying that rubble was falling against it from the other side. They were possibly moments away from utter destruction. The muscle in Ryuuzaki's jaw pumped and the slim tendons on his throat convulsed. He was afraid. That's what he looks like when he's afraid. He is afraid. Raito knows this, because he's been in that body. He knows Ryuuzaki can feel fear.

Sayu was screaming in abandon by now, supporting herself on anything she could.

And Raito was frozen, still staring covertly at his left. Ryuuzaki still hadn't opened his eyes. His lips seemed a bit…softer…than usual…

'He looks...'

But, even though he'd wanted to, he'd never actually seen it until now.

-

They sat there, unmoving, for a long time after the artificial rockslide had ended. Finally, after the massive destruction, the ceiling had stopped crumbling. It was understandable, since, if it crumbled any more, then the whole building would collapse upon them.

The time that had actually passed must have been shorter than Raito thought. But the entire ordeal seemed to have lasted for centuries. Now in the quiet of relaxation, Ryuuzaki had reopened his eyes and resumed his customary neutrality. Raito had immediately dismissed his former strange thoughts – he'd clearly been delusional. Ryuuzaki was just...Ryuuzaki. Nothing more, nothing less. Out of all the people Raito had met, Ryuuzaki was the most annoying in practical matters. But even so, Raito respected his opinion the most – the detective was the best rival. Sure, Near and Mello had defeated him – but they had been two and Ryuuzaki had only been one.

'Ryuuzaki is ten times more powerful than Near ever was. Near only beat me with Mello's help...L almost beat me on his own.'

After the initial shock had passed, the crying had come. Sayu had kept wailing in Raito's embrace, doleful over their father's death. Raito couldn't bring himself to say even one remorseful word, much less spill a tear for that disgusting monster.

Thankfully, Raito was generally a composed man, so it wouldn't come as too great a surprise that he wasn't crying. Nevertheless, Ryuuzaki had been watching him with narrowed eyes. Given, Raito felt slightly annoyed at his sister – she was making him lose face in front of a respected rival. He didn't want L to see him patting her back awkwardly while she cried. It would make him look soft, in Ryuuzaki's eyes.

«It's cold...» Sayu finally whispered, after she'd cried her heart out. The renewed rubble had covered their father's corpse and a few others, but Raito still kept her away from the dead bodies. Nevertheless, he was quite sure that she'd witnessed Souichirou's death with her own eyes, just like Raito himself had.

«Indeed» Ryuuzaki said in response, his voice toneless, as though announcing the number of a car plate. Ryuuzaki's speech seemed to jar Sayu, making her twist in Raito's embrace.

«I'm sorry...» she said in a voice a little louder than a whisper «I didn't thank you properly for saving me before...» she let her statement trail on, a little shyly. Raito was overcome by vague annoyance at her slightly coy tone. He let her slip away from his arms, seeing as she didn't seem to be in need of comfort any more.

Ryuuzaki shrugged with his right shoulder, not looking at all out of his element. Of course. Raito remembered from L's interactions with Misa that, contrary to what one may have expected, Ryuuzaki was entirely shameless and just as rude as usual in front of females. He didn't have any inhibitions in any social contact, so he didn't appear at all reserved or shy. Just vaguely amused.

«Don't thank me, Sayu-san. » Ryuuzaki responded, seeing the girl's confusion at the fact that the stranger already knew her name «It was your brother who rescued you. »

«Thank you so much! » the girl said with a smile, aiming her words at both men. Then, she looked at Ryuuzaki questioningly.

«Um, if you don't mind me asking...who are you? » she said in a soft, polite voice.

Raito decided to take the situation in his hands «This is a frie-» he started saying, but was immediately interrupted by Ryuuzaki, who was looking at Sayu with his piercing, unblinking black stare.

«My name is Ryuuzaki. » he stated, as tonelessly as usual «I'm one of the subordinates in the Kira investigation...I work with Raito-kun. I've heard many things about Sayu-san from him. »

Raito grinned and nodded at her after a few moments, verifying his nemesis's words. However, he was actually annoyed. Did Ryuuzaki think he was as idiot, or something? He would never have told Sayu about L's real identity! Ryuuzaki didn't need to patronize him in everything. And now that Sayu was here-

And then, at that moment, Raito realized something.

Sayu, Ryuuzaki and he, Raito, were alone.

All alone.

Trapped in a wrecked room. Right after an earthquake.

It took only a few seconds for the gears to start clicking.

'Ryuuzaki...first my father...now Ryuuzaki? Is that it?!'

Internally, Raito was practically bursting brain cells by now. Was this his torture? Would Sayu be raped by Ryuuzaki next? The very thought of witnessing Ryuuzaki...it made Raito's arteries pump even harder, for some reason. He'd protect her no matter what! He'd stop it from happening.

Actually, he almost sat up and barked at Ryuuzaki to stay away from his sister right then and there...but Raito restrained himself. If he acted rashly, then he'd look like a lunatic and lose his chances of evaluating the situation logically. Ryuuzaki had never shown signs of...then again the same stood for Souichirou, until Raito had seen it with his own eyes. Perhaps Raito was just thinking too much...not. This alternate reality was unpredictable.

«Oh, is that so! » in the meantime, as Raito was lost in his musings, the girl nodded back at Ryuuzaki, who stared unresponsively back at her. If it weren't for the fact that Ryuuzaki had saved her, Raito sourly thought, she probably would have pegged him to be a 'weirdo', just like Misa had. Raito knew first hand that womens' logic was all the same. «I'm so sorry...I...all of this...I hope L-san will...be okay...» she floundered, not knowing what to say about the tragedy that had occurred around them. Raito was worried she'd start crying again and embarrass him further, but she suppressed it, obviously.

«I'm sure he will. » Raito answered under Ryuuzaki's scrutiny, extremely aware of the irony of the situation «He was in another part of the building anyway.» he smiled at Sayu's encouraged look «If we're lucky, he'll even find a way to alarm the police about our predicament...isn't that right, Ryuuzaki?» he asked, the lies flowing smoothly and readily.

«Of course» L returned without falter, looking at Raito intensely. Raito was suddenly reminded of a few errant thoughts he'd had earlier about some qualities of Ryuuzaki's face. Pfft. Ryuuzaki's face was as ugly as ever, as demonstrated by his unnatural eyebrows and odd cheeks. Would that man...could such a man...even imagine rape, let alone commit it? Raito felt nauseous as he wondered.

Then, Ryuuzaki turned to the girl with wide eyes. Raito was vaguely amused to see Sayu's unsettlement when faced with L's unusually expressionless face.

« There are alarm mechanisms in this building. » he stated «In a few hours, we'll be as good as rescued, I'm sure. »

Raito felt sick. He thought...he'd heard that phrase somewhere before.

-

«...is there anything to eat around here? » Raito's voice echoed through the twilight darkness. He was sure that at least half a day had passed. They hadn't yet eaten or drunk anything, and they'd soon become dehydrated, at this rate.

«Well, if I recall correctly, there was a mini-fridge underneath the main computer console-» Ryuuzaki started saying and Sayu appeared to be cheering up. However, her excitement was short-lived when faced with Raito's groan.

«Oh, that's brilliant.» he said blandly, not caring in the least by now if Ryuuzaki realized just how aggravated he was «So you're saying we're trapped in here for an indeterminable amount of time with nothing but a candy-store stash to keep us company?»

Sayu appeared almost comically confused, just as Ryuuzaki's black eyes blinked, as though taken aback «These are the only available nutrients in close vicinity...unless, of course, you wish to engage in cannibalism, Raito-kun. » he finished, with an owlish look. Raito felt his skin crawl just thinking about it.

«What about water? » he tried again, hoping for the best.

«There is some tea in the mini-fridge. » the neutral tone came.

«And nothing else? »

«Well, I'd asked Watari-» L's monotone voice stopped suddenly, as though the record had stuck. Raito's attention focused and he tried to discern Ryuuzaki's face a bit better in the darkness. L seemed to have a strange, twisted expression. As though he'd just been made to swallow something that wasn't at least ninety percent sugar.

Maybe Ryuuzaki really had… for Watari, who had supposedly raised him-

«But I'm sure there's nothing left. » Ryuuzaki finished, resuming natural speech as abruptly as he'd lost it. Sayu appeared puzzled, but Raito was more than puzzled: he was intrigued.

After a few moments of pensive silence on Raito's part, the chestnut haired man turned back to the direction of the smashed computers.

«Well...I don't think it will be that easy to get to that fridge, Ryuuzaki...» he muttered, seeing the dangerous cables that were flailing around said area «Got any other alternatives? »

«As I said, unless Raito-kun wishes to-» Ryuuzaki started, but Raito silenced him with a hand.

«Please respect my sister, and don't be rude. » Raito said, standing up. Sayu appeared more confused than ever by now.

«But if that's the case...» the amber eyed man concluded «Then the fridge it is. »

-

When one is hungry almost anything seems edible; even Ryuuzaki's endless piles of empty calories. They had gotten to the fridge, eventually, after a long adventure and a lot of bickering. Even Sayu had seemed to tire of their constant verbal contest at some point, so the two rivals had tried to work together more effectively.

It had obviously worked, and the fridge – no longer frosty, of course, since it was not connected to electricity – was resting near them, right where they could easily reach it.

But whilst Sayu was worrying about what they would eat after their food resources were dry and whether their rescuers would come, Raito was busy wondering exactly how this ordeal would end. Obviously, it was the same setting as before, with the only difference that the candidate rapist was not Souichirou but Ryuuzaki. Yes, the asexual, occult abomination of nature might actually try to rape the girl. And what would Raito do? He obviously had to stop it. That was his purpose here. It wasn't a torture, then. It was another competition – a competition he had to win in order to advance to the higher stage.

He had to prevent his sister from being raped. Now all he had to do was...wait. But wait for what? For Ryuuzaki to go suddenly insane and perverted, just like his father had?

L seemed to have picked up on Raito's pensiveness, and was rejoicing in being able to monitor the suspect's actions constantly – even more so than usual. By now, three days had passed. Three days of sparse nutrition, sparser mental stimulus and dying hope. As well as crippling anxiety from Raito's part. The fourth day had come.

This was it. The day he'd been waiting for. If suppositions were correct, Ryuuzaki would try to rape Sayu today, just as Souichirou had. Raito wondered whose cruel joke this was. Of course he knew that his father had been a pervert for even thinking of raping his own daughter. But Ryuuzaki? Where did Ryuuzaki fit in? Raito had already seen the worst of it last time, with his father. Changing the scenery and including Ryuuzaki was a bit superfluous, really.

The point was made. His torture was to witness the rape of his sister. But why change the setting? What was the purpose? Shouldn't he be feeling more tortured?

The room was entirely silent, as the trio sat there. The blue-white light that was coming from various cracks in the walls gave a nocturnal air to the setting. When he looked at some dark corners, Raito could almost imagine that he wasn't surrounded by rotting corpses and annoying people.

«What do you think about Kira, Sayu-san? » Ryuuzaki's voice mentioning Kira startled the prime suspect. But by now, Raito was attuned to L's attitude toward Sayu. He wouldn't let that man approach his sister unharmed. Even so, right now, Ryuuzaki appeared not to be chatting anyone up – Raito mentally guffawed at the thought – but to be making small talk instead. Given, Ryuuzaki making small talk was strange in itself. Perhaps he wanted to interrogate Sayu and monitor Raito's reactions now that he had the chance.

«About...Kira? » the girl asked, surprised. Their starvation had induced all of them in a state of half-coma, where they talked and moved lethargically.

«Yes. » Ryuuzaki persisted tonelessly. Raito kept silent, wanting to see where Ryuuzaki was going with this. «Do you think he's doing the right thing by killing criminals? »

Sayu thought only a few moments and then answered honestly, with a clear look on her face that implied her thesis on the matter was made. «Of course not! Just because they're criminals doesn't mean they should die! » She thought for a few moments «Or, at least, we shouldn't be the ones to kill them. It's best if someone else decided who dies and who doesn't...if Kira truly exists...then I think he's no better than the murderers he's killing.»

Raito flailed in his mind, calling her a fool and a narrow-minded simpleton. He knew he should suppress his inner thoughts, seeing as the watchful eyes of Ryuuzaki were still near him. It wouldn't serve to start proclaiming his views again...the last time he'd done it, in front of Near, he'd ended up dead. Now, with Ryuuzaki, it could be even worse. In these instances, Raito conveniently neglected that he was already dead and didn't have much more to lose.

«Why, » Sayu started, jarring Raito out of his thoughts «What do you believe? » she aimed the question at Ryuuzaki. Suddenly curious and interested in the direction the conversation had taken, he turned to look at L with an inquiring stare. Sayu, as a proven innocent, would not be suspected for asking something so simple. Raito had wanted to ask that question too sometimes, since he'd never really known the answer. Sure, Ryuuzaki wanted to catch Kira...but was he doing it because he thought Kira was ethically wrong, or just because he wanted to beat the unbeatable?

Raito had always suspected the second, and that Ryuuzaki was too much of an egotist to care about ethics. He wasn't like Raito. Ryuuzaki, much like his favourite candies, was sugar-coated, but filled to the brim with lies. Sure, he was a typically righteous detective...but Raito suspected that Ryuuzaki didn't like being a detective because he supported justice. He liked being a detective because he could prove himself smarter and more capable than others. What a selfish idiot. Raito had never been like that. Anything Raito had done, it had all been for a purpose...making a better, more just world-

«Me? » Ryuuzaki seemed surprised to be even asked such a question. Raito tried not to seem too eager to learn the answer. Sayu nodded, proceeding to clarify her thoughts.

«Yes. I mean, obviously you are hunting Kira down, so you're not a Kira supporter, but...what do you really believe? As a person? » she asked, with eyes too wide and clear to be false.

But Ryuuzaki was always untrusting, and crueller than he looked. He wouldn't trust a baby squirrel, let alone another human...that's what Raito had always thought about the detective's character, and he'd been right.

«Person...» Ryuuzaki repeated the girl's words, as though fascinated by the reference to himself as a human being with beliefs and not a computer. Then after a few moments of apparent evaluation and suspicion, as well as reflection of what he should say, Ryuuzaki continued «Well, Sayu-san... since the question of morals is very complex, I decided early on to keep only a simple rule. »

His black eyes flickered briefly to Raito and immediately slipped back to the girl, who was listening with rapt attention «The Law of Retaliation. » Ryuuzaki finished, and Raito mentally smacked himself over the head. He should have known that Ryuuzaki would be evasive and respond in the same way he always did. However, to Raito's surprise, Ryuuzaki actually elaborated that point. He was technically talking to Sayu, but Raito knew that the words were aimed at him.

«This law is very simple. 'An eye for an eye. A hand for a hand.' If you steal my bicycle then I shall steal yours. For me, this rule personifies justice, since justice carries with it a sense of equality. What is done to one is done to the other...there is balance. » L explained, his voice completely even and monotone, as always. His strange intonation and inflection was resurfacing clearly now that he was speaking continuously. Sayu seemed to understand the basic idea, but Ryuuzaki continued nonetheless.

«But there are cases, » he began, reverting his inflection slightly and imperceptibly moving his eyes toward Raito «that this rule does not apply. Cases like-»

«Murder. » Raito filled in, and Sayu turned to her brother, obviously having lost a beat. Nevertheless, Raito continued «If you kill someone, they can't kill you back. »

Ryuuzaki's eyes widened and became impossibly still on Raito's face – a sign of concentration «Indeed.» he kept staring for a while longer, until Sayu became uncomfortable and cleared her throat, jarring him back to reality. He reverted his black eyes back to her.

«Not only in a case of pure murder, but in some other events, the Law of Retaliation does not apply.» Ryuuzaki stated, looking at Sayu's nodding face now. «The situation in which the Law cannot be put into effect is a crime. In my mind, as a 'person', that's what I think. » L concluded, simply.

«That's simplistic of you, Ryuuzaki. » Raito said, in his airy tone. L turned his face slowly to align with the other's, watching Raito like a hawk and not showing any signs of disgruntlement at the suspect's words. «I know you said you base your moral beliefs on that Law...but is it justified to believe that the absence of this Law signifies crime? Why? Maybe the situation is special and the Law cannot apply to it...that doesn't mean that the situation is a crime. »

Ryuuzaki didn't make even the smallest movement. Raito thought he had even stopped breathing – so focused he was. Sayu had moved to the complete background of the conversation by now.

«If you move within the boundaries of the Law» Ryuuzaki answered solidly «That is, if you take something than can be also taken from you, then you indirectly recognize the existence of justice. I take your eye, and live with the fear of having mine taken out in return. » A small pause, in which Raito's heartbeat augmented to extreme levels «But if I take your life, I'm not working under a scope. I'm taking something from you and not giving you the chance to take anything from me. I'm being unfair by serving only my interest, uncontrolled and dauntless. I've become dangerous for other humans… A 'criminal'. »

Raito heard his sister swallow, and pondered upon the fact that he too was feeling as though the atmosphere had become much heavier. Even though Ryuuzaki's tone was as mechanic and bleak as always.

«And the victims of criminals can't achieve justice for themselves. That is when external factors should intervene. That is what I...'believe' about the Kira case. » the detective concluded and the siblings just sat there, both frozen in place. Ryuuzaki hadn't really answered anything clearly. But in a way, he'd answered everything.

«And what does Raito-kun think? » the predictable question came. And Raito smiled in his customary artificial calmness. As always, he didn't want either to agree or to reject Kira's actions, for fear of being suspected. Therefore, he decided on an abstract approach, much akin to Ryuuzaki's.

«I think that both Sayu and you, Ryuuzaki have a point. » he said, solidly «But on the other hand, I understand why Kira is gaining approval from certain people...In their eyes, criminals are a hazard to society and Kira is therefore a panacea. » he turned to his sister, finding it easier to focus on her than on Ryuuzaki when lying «I also think Kira is a criminal for causing the death of humans. But I understand, on the other hand, why he might be seen as a lesser criminal than others. »

«But some of those who Kira kills» Ryuuzaki's voice sounded, forcing Raito to turn towards him in the semi-darkness «are being punished disproportionately to their crimes. Kira may be justified in murdering murderers, but what of those who have committed lesser crimes? »

«Kira doesn't kill them. » Raito answered a trifle faster and more quipped than was prudent.

«I beg to differ. What of the rapists? » Raito was immediately struck by renewed suspicions about Ryuuzaki raping his sister. But before Raito could answer anything, Sayu intervened.

«Please! Onii-chan...Let's not...Let's talk about something else, please...? Otou-san just...and who knows if this is Kira's doing? »

And Raito was forced to pat his sister's back, displaying what a caring brother figure he was in front of the detective.

«Of course, Sayu...» he muttered, nodding his head toward Ryuuzaki, who retained his usual neutrality. Although, judging from the slight intensity of Ryuuzaki's fingers as they clutched his knees, the detective might have been put off to disrupt the flowing – and entirely too informative – conversation. Before Raito could say anything else, the detective spoke once again, in a voice slightly deeper – maybe even more pronounced – than usual.

«Most likely it's not Kira, this time. » he simply said «If it were I wouldn't still be alive. »

And Raito paid attention to the fact that Ryuuzaki had used the singular, not the plural. Once a suspect, always a suspect then, eh?

Even in death.

-

By now he was eager for the episode to come to a denouement. Honestly, he was getting sick of feeding only on Ryuuzaki's chocolate tarts. Most importantly, he was fed up with waiting for something horrible to happen – namely, for Ryuuzaki to decide he was perverted and rape his sister.

Ryuuzaki. Who would have thought he'd have it in him. In retrospect, Raito could see how it might happen. He was willing to bet that, with that horrible face and posture, no woman had ever wanted to approach the detective, despite his being twenty-five years of age.

Wait. So Ryuuzaki was a virgin?! The urge to guffaw aloud almost overcame Raito, but he suppressed it, knowing how insane he would sound if he suddenly burst out laughing out of nowhere. But, truth be told, he'd never thought of that aspect of Ryuuzaki's life before. At least not in when he was alive.

Pfft! It was ridiculous just thinking about it. Raito had lived with his sister long enough and studied the simple psychology behind female flirting. And honestly, by female standards, Raito supposed his detective friend could never stand a chance. Women wanted cool men. Good looks and graceful movement were basic prerequisites, whereas wit and intelligence were secondary. With that plot laid out, Ryuuzaki was at a clear disadvantage.

Yes, Raito could actually see it very clearly now. Ryuuzaki would finally flip, not having been with a woman in his whole life, and he'd try to rape Sayu in a fit of hormonal insanity. Perhaps these episodes of rapes were not exactly hallucinations – they were alternate realities, Raito concluded. They were situations in which peoples' true desires and motives were brought to the forefront. Like with his father. Who would have known Souichirou was a...a monster of that sort.

At least Ryuuzaki would be justifiable...well, understandable if not justifiable. Raito had never been particularly entranced by sexual issues – as he was sure Ryuuzaki wasn't either – but he too could possibly be driven to insanity if he never, ever had slept with a woman.

But Souichirou...there was no justification for-

And then it hit him. Raito froze. It started as a chill at the base of his neck, and then spread out to his hands, his nerves. Heat started to hit his brain with increasing speed, and it took a few more moments than usual to realize that it wasn't heat – it was his blood, running faster than usual. And then, before he knew it, it was happening.

Now?!

«Raito-kun...are you all right? » Ryuuzaki had been sitting closest to him. Raito was sitting against one wall and Ryuuzaki against a piece of cement opposite from him. Sayu was a few feet away, sleeping peacefully, curled in a foetal position and with her back to the two rivals.

«...of course. What...» it took more effort than usual to speak, since he was aware that, if he wasn't careful, his voice may come out strangled. «...makes you ask? » he finished. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with him!? Now was not the best time for- Oh, it was probably because he'd been thinking about stuff like that so much. Well, anyway. A few more minutes of thinking about swallowing Ryuuzaki's black hair and it would completely go away. It happened periodically anyway, as with most young men. And Raito knew that he was a relatively composed person, so it would go away faster.

Thankfully it was darker then before, since it was the evening, and there was no chance anyone would notice. More importantly, he had to keep an eye on Ryuuzaki, just to make sure anything untoward would happen.

«Nothing special. » Ryuuzaki answered, with his leisure voice. In the utter darkness, Raito could barely discern the detective's eyes, which blended in with surrounding blackness. Ryuuzaki was still looking at him, that was to be sure. Perhaps even more intensely than before. «You just seemed a bit tense. »

Oh, wonderful. This was exactly what Raito didn't want – drawing attention to his person, under the circumstances.

So Raito waited, and waited...and waited some more. But it wasn't happening.

What the hell is wrong with me?

And the more time passed, naturally, the greater the nag became. His heart began to palpitate unnaturally and he could practically feel his face heating up. And Ryuuzaki was right there, watching him, which was not helping much. The fact that Raito was getting hot and bothered under a supreme detective's nose was not only unexplainable, but entirely risky.

As the hours dragged torturously by, Raito's thoughts began to narrow more and more. And even though he'd been aware of all sounds in the room before, he couldn't hear anything else now save for the increasing beat of his own heart, and the thundering of his blood in his ears. The bloody trousers. They were rubbing against him, and that was the worst. The friction of his jeans against his burgeoning erection was working in positive correlation with the level of his arousal.

Ryuuzaki's right there! Right there!

He could feel sweat poring from his hair and sliding on his back. The bloody drops were slipping on his skin so slowly that it felt as though they were human fingers. By now, all thoughts of monitoring Ryuuzaki's actions were evading him. He kept trying to remind himself all the reasons why this was extremely wrong and abnormal, but reason seemed to be in short supply. And the worst of it was, Ryuuzaki was watching him like an eagle, monitoring and evaluating Raito's every action. In the darkness the detective wouldn't be able to see much, of course, but that didn't alleviate the problem.

Unable to contain it, Raito heaved a few breaths, practically panting. He actually closed his eyes and arched his back to lean better against the wall. God, he hadn't been this aroused since...since...well, ever! After his heavy breathing started, Ryuuzaki's voice immediately broke out of the dark, lashing out like the tongue of a snake, as though to remind Raito that he was under constant fucking surveillance.

«Raito-kun...? »

«I'm fine. » Raito said, perhaps a little faster than usual. He'd almost cursed Ryuuzaki to oblivion. This was a bad situation. An entirely horrible situation. Before he knew what he was doing, Raito felt the tips of his fingers grazing the inside of his own left thigh.

Shit!!

He pulled his hand away as though burnt, consequently making the handcuff chain jingle. What the hell had he been trying to do!? He was handcuffed to someone! It wasn't an option, however badly he needed it. There was a noise heard, as though Ryuuzaki was going to say something else. But apparently, he thought better of it and closed his mouth once again, since Raito heard nothing new.

Raito sank lower in his seat. He was a relatively tall man, so his thighs looked long when bent. He supported his wrists on his knees and leaned backward, trying to calm down.

Perhaps another hour had passed. He was burning. Everything was burning, save for his fingertips, which felt numb and frozen. By now, he was trying – and failing – not to pant. He couldn't see well in the dark and he didn't dare touch it in front of Ryuuzaki – even if Ryuuzaki couldn't see him – but he was willing to bet that he'd never had an erection that big. Even when Misa had-

Oh no!

The mere thought of Misa and what he'd done with her – on special occasions – sent him into another fit of convulsions. He was not going to rest with this, he knew that now. He had to find a way to go and...do it. Really fast, really hard. It wouldn't take much more than two or three minutes, he knew. But he was tied to that god-damn Ryuuzaki. He couldn't do it while wearing handcuffs or the whole world would know!

I can't believe this is happening NOW!

But it was happening. And he was panting by now, right out panting, like a bitch in heat. It was disgusting and vaguely reminiscent of something, but he couldn't remember anything clearly.

«Raito-kun. » the voice stated, and Raito was actually amazed to hear it, having almost forgotten that Ryuuzaki was there in his frenzy. Had Raito been more sober, he may have realized that the detective's voice was not as entirely toneless as usual...there was actually a tinge – minuscule tint, mind you – of sympathy in it. Ryuuzaki appeared slightly more...gentle than usual, if that was even possible for a man like the cold investigator. «Are you in pain...? »

Raito made a strangled kind of noise, unable to help himself. No voice was actually coming out. If he tried to speak, he might growl...or worse, moan.

Suddenly, a muttering sound was heard from somewhere on the right. It was a soft sound...it couldn't have been Ryuuzaki. Raito froze at the soft female voice which rung, like clear water.

«..ng...Onii-chan...? »

Raito started shaking all over in the darkness. His legs started shaking, his teeth chattering and his nails scraping on the floor. The mere sound of the voice was causing his nervous system to break down.

«Sayu-san-...»

Raito heard the male voice speak, but couldn't focus on what was being said further than the first few words. It was...Sayu...Sayu...his sister's voice. His sister. He was...and it was his sister! This was impossible; it couldn't be happening...it was impossible. Impossible!

«Nee, onii-chan, » Sayu started, but she never managed to speak any further, because Raito cut her off, unable to hear her voice anymore without shivering from arousal.

«Sayu shut up! » He practically barked. His voice had come as sudden and harsh as a slap in the face. Especially when compared to his customary, relatively calm, sweet tone he now sounded like a barbarian. Desperately trying to calm down, he banged his skull on the wall behind him. He felt more than saw the others slightly jump in surprise.

That was when he focused on it. The outline of her body...it was unholy. Even through the shadows of the room, he could feel the curves beckoning to him. But...but...

What the hell am I thinking!? She's my sister!! My sister! If I keep this on, I'll be worse than my father!

He opened his eyes wide, suddenly unable to breathe.

My father...my...and then Ryuuzaki...

But it wasn't Ryuuzaki, was it? It wasn't Ryuuzaki who was going to rape her this time.

It wasn't Ryuuzaki.

It was him.

«Ryuuzaki! » He suddenly barked, uncaring of how harsh or unrefined he sounded. He needed to stop this. Right now. Right now! «You have to release the chain. » Raito panted uncontrollably.

«Raito-kun, you know I can't-» the patronizing tone wrung, but Raito was too aware to care.

«Listen to me, you fool! » he cursed, uncaring of how he might sound and practically seeing Ryuuzaki's eyes widen through the darkness «You have to open the chain now, or we'll all be sorry! » He couldn't bring himself to say it. To admit that he couldn't control such a fundamentally human desire in front of Ryuuzaki, the intelligent and untouchable rival, would be equal to admitting defeat!

«Onii-chan you-»

«Sayu shut the fuck up!! » Raito literally shouted. Every time she opened her mouth it practically felt as though he was going to explode. And with every passing moment, her body looked less like the uninteresting average thing that it was and more like the pillar of an ultimate orgasm.

It was going to happen. He couldn't control it – it was beyond human measure. God…was this what his father had felt like? Was this-? What was--?

Was this my torture?

«Yagami-kun you're acting abnormal. What's wrong? » Ryuuzaki's voice, now fully authoritative, proclaimed and Raito realized that, by being violent, he was actually decreasing his chances of being released. So Raito did the only thing he could think of in order not to stay close to the girl for another second.

He stood up, with great pain to be sure, and dragged himself violently towards a direction away from them. Due to the chain, Ryuuzaki inevitably had to follow. Thank God everything was dark and no one could see the depth of Raito's predicament.

The man almost sprinted – as fast as possible, given the circumstances – away from the others, hearing Ryuuzaki following from a couple of meters behind. Then, finally. He found an indent in the wall which would partially conceal him from Sayu and hide him behind it. Ryuuzaki arrived a few moments later.

«Yagami-kun, I don't-» at times of anger or suspicion, the detective always reverted to second name basis. It obviously gave him a feeling of referring to people as organs or suspects...and not as human beings.

«Ryuuzaki, » Raito laid his palms on the other man's shoulders, mostly to support himself and pant. But because it was too dark and his hands were fumbling, one palm landed on Ryuuzaki's cheek instead. Through his haze of lust, he realized that Ryuuzaki, strangely enough, had...very sof...

«Ugh...» he panted, and let his hand slip from Ryuuzaki's face on his shoulder. If he didn't calm down soon enough, he'd start groping anything on two legs. He had to resolve this situation fast. Ryuuzaki would understand...he was a man, right? He must understand...Ryuuzaki would...would...

God, what will he think of me? That I'm...I'm...

A pervert?

«Listen...» he gasped the word, through pants «I need some privacy. »

Even in his own ears, it sounded much more horrible than he had thought it would. But if he was lucky, Ryuuzaki would just pass him off as a late bloomer...not a complete pervert...hopefully.

It took a few seconds, which, to Raito, felt like an eternity. Then, finally, finally, Ryuuzaki spoke.

«For what reason? »

Raito gritted his teeth. He didn't have time for these mind games now. His palms were sweating as they clasped Ryuuzaki's shoulders, and he felt his knees bending from the force of the arousal. The only thing he could think of, unfortunately, was sharp and pliant objects merging. And Ryuuzaki's incomprehension was the last thing he needed. It might have been dark, and it might have been impossible for Ryuuzaki to see Raito's predicament...but it was truly unlikely that the extremely perceptive detective had not detected what was happening.

«You know what reason! » Raito finally bit back breathlessly. He was going mad. If he didn't do it now, it felt as though his entire spine would crack.

«I'm not certain. » Ryuuzaki persisted, his tone completely devoid of all sympathy or emotion he might have had before.

This bugger wants to make me say it. Raito realized with a chill. The fact that Ryuuzaki's body was exhibiting warmth was not helping. Raito removed his hands immediately, when he realized that Ryuuzaki's soft shirt was serving as a distraction from Ryuuzaki's actual words. Just when Raito was about to flounder ineffectively for some other excuse, a song, melodious voice was heard from the far right.

«Onii-chan...? Ryuuzaki-san? » The girl called «Is everything all right? »

«Get her away from me...» Raito leaned back on the wall behind him, covering his face with his hands «Ryuuzaki...! » There he'd admitted it. Complete humiliation. He was a pervert now. In Ryuuzaki's eyes, he had become a-

«Very well. » the deep male voice concluded, not showing any signs of disgust or unsettlement. The next thing Raito knew, Ryuuzaki had plucked the key from his pocket and was unlocking the handcuffs.

It took a few torturous moments, and the Ryuuzaki was gone. Just a few more minutes. He wouldn't fail, like his father. He'd make it! He was now sure that this was what he was required to do! Refrain from raping his sister! This was his torture!!!

The moment he heard Ryuuzaki's voice speaking to Sayu, Raito dropped to his knees. Without preamble, hands and knees shaking, he unzipped his pants and devoted himself to the task. His father had probably failed at this...that was why he'd ended up raping her. That was why-

I should never have blamed...I didn't know-

For the first few moments, Raito felt a relief unlike any other wash through him. Now it would only take a few caresses until it was all over. He braced himself and prepared for it...

But it wasn't coming. It wasn't. And the more he tried, the less it worked. Until, finally, after so much time of trying furiously, he couldn't even feel his own touch. It was as though...as though...

This is demon-work! He realized, suddenly crippled. He might as well have been touching a block of wood for all the good it did him. It wasn't reacting – he couldn't finish it. And the more he tried, the worse the arousal got. Until, at some point, reaching a peak of literal torture, he thought that if he didn't do it, he'd die. He'd forgotten all about the reality of the situation by now. The only thing he could remember was that there was a woman, and she was close, and she was waiting for him. In the back of his mind, he knew that what he was doing, and thinking of doing was completely wrong, but he couldn't stop himself.

Within seconds he launched himself away from the small hideout and walked back to the place the others were sitting. He vaguely recognized they were speaking, but could hardly even discern what they were saying.

I'm so sorry...I don't know what's happening!

I'm so sorry, Sayu!

So sorry!! I don't know...I'm going to die! I'm going to die!!

Until eventually, he realized that he wasn't only thinking the words. He was saying them out loud. His own voice sounded alien, withdrawn, choked. In the twilight of the room, the others were simply shadows. He could see Sayu stepping back, and the motion of her legs as she walked entranced him completely.

Then, suddenly, there was an obstacle between him and that divine liberation.

«Yagami-kun...calm down. » the voice was calm. Completely in control. It spoke of a man who is untouchable, who is not as pathetic as Raito himself.

«I'm sorry...I'm so sorry Sayu...If I don't. I'll die...I'll die» and he would. He would die. He felt as though his brain was about to split his skull in two. He just had to do it. He had to, or else the pain would never stop.

«Raito-kun...Look at me. You're not going to die. Look at me. » there was a light touch on his shoulders, as though a movement of support, and it almost felt like a bird's feathers.

«.Ryuuzaki..? Forgive me...»

He didn't know when he threw the first punch. But he could feel it clearly as Ryuuzaki's pale, blood-stained face came in contact with his fist. Before Raito knew what was happening, a bony ankle hit his ribs. But his arousal was too great. It made his nerves tingle, his nerves burst.

He caught Ryuuzaki by the side of the neck, like he'd grip a wild duck, and threw him to the side. As though the other man was an insect, a pest.

«O-Onii-chan...? » the girl's eyes were huge and innocent, gleaming with virginal light even in the darkness. The only thing it did was fuel his need.

«I'm sorry-» he choked, and bit his tongue in the process. He half expected Ryuuzaki's to attack him again, but no assault came. The most aware part of him wandered if he'd left the detective unconscious.

But by then Raito - with his eyes sharpened from desperation and need - had grabbed the girl's hand. After that, he knew not much else.

He grabbed her. His hands were entirely full of her. His aching arousal, killing him from inside out with its heat, was beckoning. Her frantic screams were only vague noises in the background, sounding more like silent calls than the uncontrolled shrieks they were.

In the back of his mind, he was aware of the wrongness of what he was doing. But there were words, whispers, egging him to continue.

'She's my sister; she'll understand that I have no choice'.

'It's just one little time, what harm can be done'

And at the same time, another part of him was shivering in humiliation, aware of what he was doing. The humiliation was strong. Much stronger than the remorse. How could he have fallen to this? How?

Flinging her to the cement-wrecked floor, he pillaged her womanhood in the worst possible way. And where he'd thought it would only last a few minutes, it seemed to go on for an eternity with one moment better than the next. He was hardly aware of his own body, or that he was moaning in pleasure as she was screaming in pain.

After the first few moments, even his own awareness faded. And the fact that, aside from the back of the woman's thighs, he could clearly see two black eyes, staring right at his face, seemed completely irrelevant at the time.

This must be my torture.

In fact, after the pleasure wreathed his spine the first time, he could think no more.

-

She was curled up like a foetus, staying absolutely still. Just like she had when...when their father had...She wasn't crying or screaming, and she wasn't calling him names. Nobody was calling him names. He sat in front of her, kneeling, but saying nothing.

Now that it was over, his body felt completely normal. Not especially vigorous, as would be the natural post-coital effect. He just felt back to normal, as though a double axe had stopped being rammed in his brain.

No amount of apologies was going to reverse the facts. He may be sorry, but who would believe him? Had he believed Souichirou when the father had said he was sorry? No. Then why should anyone...

Even so, for his own peace of mind, he felt that he had to...

«I...didn't mean...» he started, but it already sounded so stupid to his ears that he immediately stopped speaking. «I didn't...» A small sound, like a foot that is dragged on the floor, sounded from behind him and Raito froze. Like lightning, everything came back to him. Everything that had happened...Ryuuzaki had...he hadn't been unconscious. He'd...

Ryuuza...ki...

Raito turned around and, for once, his eyes were on the floor. How he must look, in Ryuuzaki's eyes. Like an uncontrolled beast – a pervert, who raped his own sister. A monster. Ryuuzaki, who Raito had considered the only person able to be his match...Ryuuzaki, would now...

He raised his eyes upward, meeting first Ryuuzaki's denim clad thin legs, then his narrow torso. And finally his pale smooth-skinned face, with the retched black hair and black eyes, which was devoid of all emotion.

Raito remembered what he had done when he'd seen his father raping Sayu. He'd thrown up. He'd called his father a monster. A pervert. He hadn't known...

He hadn't known.

And now...now Ryuuzaki was thinking for him whatever Raito had thought about his father that time...And Raito couldn't bare it. The thought that he was a...a...because that's what he was! And, worst of all, Ryuuzaki had...seen it. He'd seen everything. He'd been staring right at-

«...Ryuu...zaki...» he could hardly recognize his own voice, since it was shaking. Shaking and broken, much more so than it had been when he'd been interrogating a demon. Ryuuzaki's black, piercing eyes were staring at him, seeing through his soul. Seeing everything. Who he was. What he had done.

Pathetic, he heard the voices, whispering in his ears.

But Ryuuzaki was looking at him with the same neutral face as always, eyes completely blank, expression neutralized. He wasn't throwing up. He wasn't calling Raito names.

«...I'm...You have to believe me! » Raito suddenly exploded, taking the five necessary shaky steps to reach the other. But he was more startled when he saw Ryuuzaki take steps backwards just as Raito approached. «R-Ryuuza...» but Ryuuzaki did not respond. He just stared.

«I had no choice! » Raito erupted, not shouting but not keeping calm either. He took another step forward, toward the other, and stretched his hand towards Ryuuzaki's cheek. In a flash of desperation, he suddenly remembered how soft Ryuuzaki's flesh was, when it was touched by another person. Ryuuzaki looked at the outstretched hand, and then at Raito's face. His eyes were wide and still. He hadn't blinked for at least half a minute.

«Please...Please, believe me...» Raito said, realizing that his voice was actually shaking, and so was his hand. He had to make sure that Ryuuzaki had not lost all his respect for...if Ryuuzaki started to think that Raito was a pervert, then Raito didn't know what he might do!

«I never asked for clarifications, Raito-kun. Why are you telling me this? » Ryuuzaki then spoke, his voice just as even and emotionless like always. Like always. He didn't even use a surname – he didn't even bother. His wide eyes, combined with the careless voice, was more painful than any slap or curse word Raito may have received. But this...this was proof that... Ryuuzaki...didn't care anymore. In Ryuuzaki's book, Raito was dead. Written off as...

As a...

«The one you should apologize to is Sayu-san. »

Raito felt his knees and ankles weaken. Until finally, his legs gave out, and he collapsed, kneeling, in front of Ryuuzaki.

«Please...I've always thought we...that is...you...you'll understand that...» Raito gasped between his words, losing himself when facing Ryuuzaki's completely blank, emotionless stare. It's not that Ryuuzaki was being cruel. In contrast, he was being as civil as always. And that was the greatest cruelty. Why wasn't he shouting obscenities? Why wasn't he telling Raito off? Why...why...?

«I'm not a monster! » Raito choked out, remembering the things he had thought about his father before. But Ryuuzaki just stared on.

«I never said you were, Raito-kun. »

Raito gritted his teeth, more out of panic and desperation than anything else. Sayu's small cries, in the background, were like broken melodies in his ears.

«You're thinking it. You're thinking I'm a criminal! » Raito said, in an accusing tone.

«You don't know what I'm thinking. »

«Just say it! Say it! »

«I have nothing to say, Raito-kun. »

«Say it!!...! » by now he was strangling the words between his rhythmic gasps, which sounded suspiciously like sobs «I'm an animal! A criminal! I raped my own sister! Just say it! Say it, God damn you!!! »

Raito, kneeling, bent over and covered his face with his palms, because he didn't want people to see.

«Just spit it out! Your true thoughts!! »

But Ryuuzaki didn't say anything.

And so, finally, Raito knew what his torture was.

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A/n: so there you have it. I hope this chapter was FULL of plot twists and surprises for you! If you liked it, hated it or otherwise have anything to say about it, please write me a review. For this chapter especially! I'm very anxious about what readers will think of it! Drop me a line!

Ta!

Nehti