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To Save Your Life: Note I

Page 01: A Tragic Memory

Once upon a time there were two shinigami brothers and two human sisters. The shinigami watched the two girls everyday for they had fallen in love with them. The oldest shinigami Trado, was the first to fall in love. Most of the other shinigami did not approve of his love for a human and gave him a hard time. His brother, Traizo was the only one who was supportive. Traizo often sat next to his older brother watching the human world and keeping him company while offering his support. That is how Traizo first saw you; the younger sister of the human Trado had fallen in love with.

Traizo always kept his brother company and while his brother watched the older sister, he watched the younger one. You and your sister were always very close and very similar, so when even Trado would point out what he admired in your sister, Traizo couldn't help it but to notice a similar feature in you. But Trado's love would not have a happy ending.

That evening it was raining harshly and the skies were so dark that it almost looked like night even if it wasn't past six. You had stayed after school helping with the preparations for a Halloween party. The gymnasium looked great with orange and black details all over, pumpkins, ghosts, witches and all sorts of Halloween themed things.

Your sister, who would graduate from high school that year, had gone out with the other seniors and was coming back to pick you up. This would be your last year of high school with your sister, but in another year you would join her in college. You never could have guessed what would happen that evening.

When your sister came, everything appeared to be alright. Shielded from the rain by an umbrella that hardly helped keep her dry, your sister appeared at the door and you went with her back to the car. "Want me to drive?" You knew your sister hated driving in bad weather, besides you were sixteen and had a license, so there wasn't anything wrong with you taking the wheel.

Reluctantly your sister agreed. "Yeah thanks." That was a mistake. It was something you would continue to blame yourself for a long time until you blocked it out of your mind.

The rain was hard, the road was slippery and taking a shortcut was not a good idea. You knew that shortcut like the back of your hand but you've never driven a car though there in rain this heavy. The wind picked up, throwing stray leaves at the windshield and the wipers got stuck which made it more difficult to see.

The storm was strong and had broken off a few small branches but you were in deep concentration and you knew your sister was nervous. The crackle of the braches breaking under the tires seemed so much louder to you and you instinctively hit the breaks while taking a turn.

The car slid to the side and out of the road into the grassy area bellow. It had to be at least ten inches lower than the road itself, obviously not enough to cause a serious accident, but enough to startle both of you and create a bump underneath the car. At least it wouldn't be an obvious dent since you avoided hitting a nearby tree.

The car stopped at an odd angle and only one tire was out of the road. If you held the gas pedal down you were certain the car could pull itself out since the other three tires were still on the road. "No problem I got it under control," you assured your sister with a smile.

"Be careful, the car will get some impulse after you get it back on the road, don't miss the next turn," your sister warned.

"Gotcha," you focused on your driving. At first you weren't good at it, but you eventually learned to drive well enough to get your license. Driving with your sister was certainly better than driving with an instructor or your parents during the learning process, because she saw things from a student's point of view having, been one not too long ago, so you could learn faster with minimum frustration.

It seemed that things were going well but that bump bellow the car and the water that flowed under it couldn't do any good. Still, the car looked fine, just wet and a bit dirty from the leaves sticking to it; you didn't expect it to suddenly stop.

Your parents didn't want the two of you to stay out that evening because of the weather report. Normally, they would have no inconveniences if the two of you assured them that you would stick together, even if on occasions you each did your own thing as it was part of a well balanced sibling relationship. But today they wanted you home, claiming that if you stayed out, you would get caught in the rain and catch a cold. You didn't like being treated like a kid and besides, avoiding the rain was what umbrellas were all about.

"Do we call home and ask for help or do we wait it out?" Your sister asked though the answer was obvious.

"We wait it out," you both agreed at the same time.

"I think something's wet inside the car," you theorized.

Your sister nodded in agreement. "Yeah and it is pretty old." Old but cheap and it took you where you needed to be, so no complaints there. "We should let the car's insides dry off and cool a little, the rain should stop soon and it's not like we're in anyone's way in this lonely shortcut."

"Agreed," so it was done, but your parents had warned you not to take lonely shortcuts. You knew there would be no problem if you just kept moving, but you weren't moving and rumors were that there were some criminals on the loose hiding in that area. You didn't believe it because nothing exciting ever happened in your life. For you, there was no drama with criminals and detectives, nothing out of the ordinary at all.

Then there was some rustling in the bushes and two men stepped out. "Sis..." You knew what you sister was trying to say. She got a bad feeling from those men and you did too.

"Right," you tried to start the car again, it looked as if all it needed was to dry off and cool since the rain had already stopped while you waited. But the men were desperate for transportation and perhaps hostages. One of them stepped in front of the car before it could gain too much speed. You slammed on the breaks and you were certain you did not hit him yet he appeared to fall back and panic betrayed you and your sister.

Taking advantage of the confusion the other man aimed a gun right at you. You soon realized it was all just an act to throw you off guard, as the man whom you supposedly hit got up obviously unharmed.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the shinigami world... "They're in trouble," Traizo observed.

Trado nodded nervously. "They won't be killed, I don't think so."

"They might be but not yet. I think they'll be taken hostage, who knows what those two will do to them," Traizo was worried but he hid it well. His brother had warned him not to fall in love with a human because then he would inevitably suffer.

Trado's eyes went wide. "I won't let them." In anger he began to write in his Death Note the name of the man holding the gun.

"No!" Traizo tried to stop him but he was pushed away. "Don't do it! Don't sacrifice yourself!" In sorrow and frustration Traizo tried to take his brother's Death Note, but it was too late, the man's name had already been written. The tug of war between the shinigami brothers still continued until seconds later, the man with the gun died of a heart attack before his partner’s name could be written by the shinigami who now turned to dust.

In the mist of the confusion the man who had jumped in front of your car unarmed, rushed to check on his partner and retrieve their only weapon. You took the chance and drove away full speed, leaving Lind L. Tailor behind, perplexed by the other man's sudden death.

You didn't exactly have nerves of steal, but you were capable of staying relatively calm in hard situations with a few exceptions. Luckily you acted fast and got away. Your heart was pounding but your heart was strong unlike your sister’s. It was a condition she inherited from your grandfather, the condition that killed him, one you didn't have. The shock was too much and even if no shinigami was involved in causing it, your sister died from heart failure that evening.

Page 02: Coming Back to Haunt You

Two years had passed since your sister's death and you are now a college student. You miss her very much and life is more boring than it used to be. But today would bring a new beginning, today something out of this world would happen.

When you first saw the black notebook on the ground you thought nothing of it. It was probably something someone had dropped, though you could have sworn it wasn't there a second ago. You looked around and even if there seemed to be a few people walking by, none of them looked like they had dropped a notebook or were searching for it. You considered leaving it there for the owner to find, but curiosity took over and you at least had to check for a name. If it belonged to someone you knew, you would return it yourself. When you opened the notebook you nearly jumped out of your skin, a strange being stood before you.

"Don't be scared, I have no intentions of hurting you," Traizo assured.

You forced a smile and felt silly. "Nice costume."

"I knew you wouldn't believe me if I told you I'm a shinigami. Go on, try to take off this costume and you'll see every piece is attached to me." The being's appearance wasn't exactly pleasant. His eyes bugged out of his face and his flesh was excessively pale, almost gray. His black pants seemed to merge into his body at the waist and even if he wasn't really thin, his bones somehow managed to stick out as if they were pointy. "Are you familiar with the Kira case?"

Though you never told you parents about your encounter with the two men, you blamed them for your sister's death. Telling your parents would only make them more overprotective and paranoid and it would certainly not bring your sister back. Besides, the man who survived, whom you had seen in the news that your father watched every day, already had enough crimes on his account to deserve the death penalty. If he was caught he would be killed, even if you didn't accuse him, then Kira killed him even if he would have been killed anyway. "Everyone knows about that."

"This is how he kills, with a Death Note." Before he could explain anything else, a third voice joined the conversation.

"What are you doing standing there? C'mon we'll be late." You blinked and looked back and forth between your best friend and the guy in the zombie costume did she not see him? "What are you looking at over there?" She stepped forward and to your surprise walked right through the zombie-like creature. You stared wide eyed and open mouthed as your friend waved a hand in front of you. "Hello? You look like you saw a ghost; we'll be late for class, let's go." You nodded slowly and followed her all too aware that the creature was following you.

A class that would usually be interesting turned quite long because you only wanted to find out more about the being that stood behind you with the desk of your best friend's sit apparently cutting his legs. You kept turning back to see if he was still there which caused your friend to give you confused looks wondering what you were trying to say. Of course, you didn't see her expression, you only saw the creature.

After the class was over, you rushed to the girl's bathroom which thankfully was empty so no one would ask what your paranoid looks were about. You opened the sink and collected some water in your hands. Even after splashing it against your face you still saw him. You then rushed out of the bathroom and towards the vending machines.

"I'm not an illusion you know. Washing your face to wake yourself up and filling your stomach won't make me disappear." In your haste after your friend came to get you for class and you realized there was something very strange about that zombie guy, you had stuffed the Death Note in your bag where it still was.

You looked straight at the monster feeling ridiculous since to any passerby, you would look like you were looking at thin air. Then you walked out without even trying to get anything from the vending machine, you doubted that you would be capable of digesting anything at the moment anyway.

You walked to the parking lot which held many cars and no people at this time of the day. Once inside your car, you looked at the strange being who sat in the passenger seat even if you did not open or even unlock the passenger door for him. At least he didn't go literally through you to get there, that would be creepy. For mercy, if this monster ever made himself visible to your best friend, you wouldn't tell her she once walked through him; that would surely give her nightmares.

"Okay, what's your story?" You nervously asked, getting into the driver's seat. Who wouldn't be nervous at a time like this?

"My name is Traizo and I'm a shinigami. Right now, only you can see me and hear me. The notebook I gave you has the power to kill if you write a person's name while picturing their face in your mind so people with the same name won't be affected. Also, incomplete names and aliases don't work. You can decide the cause of death and so on, just don't take too long to write it. If it's something impossible it'll be a heart attack in forty seconds. That's just about it." He wasn't too specific and he left several details out, but he thought that was enough.

You took a moment to calm down and take in all the information. "This is really what Kira uses? I mean, if it were real?"

"Yes, I think it is. If you don't believe it's real, try it out." The way he said it was so care free it couldn't be true.

"I don't believe you," of course seeing the physical impossibilities he accomplished and all the information about the Kira case on the media it was hard not to believe him.

"Want me to give you a demonstration with my own Death Note?" Traizo asked.

You quickly shook your head. "No thanks, maybe I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." So a shinigami had come into your life. That was certainly interesting and left you with many questions. "I'm not going to become like Kira."

"You don't have to."

"Why did you choose me?"

"Because..." he paused, was that a hint of pink on that creepy gray skin of his.

"What is it?" You urged him to reply.

"Because I like you," Traizo finished.

You blinked. "I'm not, I mean, I can't... " you were at a loss for words.

"You only like humans?" Traizo asked, coming closer, a bit too close for comfort.

Your eyes traveled around the shinigami’s anatomy. You didn't want to be shallow but he was creepy, very creepy and very gray with pointy bones beneath his skin that threatened to tare it any second, and you noted that some bones had in fact already torn the gray flesh at the shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Traizo reached to touch your hair and you yelped and slapped his seven fingered clawed hand away. "So you do only like humans."

You nodded quickly. "Yes, I only like humans that way, human males to be specific." You told yourself that having a liking for a certain species wasn't shallow and grabbed your bag, getting out of the car. It was your lunch hour now, but you had no appetite what so ever.

"We'll be friends then?" Traizo asked.

"Alright," that much you could handle, or so you made it seem, because deep down you were wishing that the weirdness would just disappear and your predictable life would continue. When you wished for excitement this was not what you had in mind.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the end of the day you went straight home. You were not in the mood to go anywhere with all that had happened. Once at home you greeted your mother and without making any conversation, you went to your room and tossed your bag on your bed then sat down beside it.

"I understand this can be a shock for humans if they’re not expecting a shinigami to show up," Traizo explained.

"You don't know the half of it," you could really use something relaxing right about now, but dared not take a shower with a zombie like creature that could go through walls stalking you.

"What will you do with the Death Note?" Traizo asked.

"I already said I won't become another Kira, I won't use it at all." While Kira had been the one to finally punish the survivor of the two criminals whom you blamed for your sister's death, you weren't completely a Kira fan either. But he was just punishing criminals, so he wasn't so bad, right? "Give it to Kira."

"It'll take a while to figure out who Kira is but I’m pretty sure he must already be using a Death Note. Why would you want to give away such power?" Traizo tempted.

"I thought you could find him easily or even knew him and don't try to temp me, it won't work. I'm not willing to take on this role, it’s not me. I know it sounds selfish but the only criminal I wanted to punish has already been killed by Kira. I didn't get to see it live, but I saw a rerun on the news. The others are not my responsibility. I'm not that heroic vigilante who sacrifices everything and constantly puts up with being chased by the police. I'm not like that I'm not..." you trailed off.

"Brave enough?" Traizo offered.

"Shut up," you let yourself fall back into your bed and pondered your options on how to deal with the Death Note.

"I'm going out for a while," the shinigami informed. "I might be out for a long time but I'll be back. Don't lose the Death Note."

"Where are you off to?" You curiously inquired.

"You'll see," was Traizo's only reply before flying away through a wall.

Page 03: Flying Far Away

"I found him!"

"Ah!" To see a zombie-like creature first thing in the morning when you woke up is not the awakening you expected.

"Are you okay?" Your mother called concerned.

"I'm fine!" You called back and tried to get rid of the shock. It had been a little over two weeks since Traizo had left, and though you still kept your Death Note well hidden in your room, you had started to think that the shinigami had been an illusion, a product of your imagination. Yet here he was, he had returned. "Don't scare me like that and who did you find?"

"I found Kira; I thought you wanted to know who he is. Want me to kill him for you?" Traizo asked.

"For the millionth time," because even if it might not be the millionth time you said it, to you it felt like it was. "I do not wish to kill anyone."

"Want me to kill Lawliet instead?" Killing to please a human was different from killing to save a human, so Traizo wouldn't die if he did this. Killing for you was his strange way of flirting with you, he was a shinigami after all.

"No and who in the world is Lawliet anyway?" You stumbled out of bed and started to brush your hair. Good thing it was Saturday and you didn’t have much to do all day.

"Kira's enemy some kind of weird detective, so should I kill him?" At this point Traizo's insistence was getting a bit annoying.

"What did I tell you about killing people?" You paused but he did not reply "I don't want you to do it."

"But I must, I am a shinigami after all. If I don't kill I die," Traizo explained.

You blinked and became curious. "How so?"

"I can see a humans life span and name just be looking at them. The human's life is added to my own after I kill them, but that doesn't work for humans writing in a Death Note so your life won't be extended," the shinigami explained.

"It's for survival," that gave new light to the situation. "It's troublesome since you won't get much out of it, but try to kill only those who deserve it or actually want to die. If it's a thing of survival I know I can't ask you not to do it, but choose carefully okay?"

"You want me to do Kira's job? That's not very shinigami like," Traizo then looked thoughtful. "Alright, I'll kill criminals for you."

"Not for me, for yourself. You said it was for survival, right? I guess that when one's life is threatened, all a living creature can think of is their own survival. I don't like this but it's only natural I suppose." You finished brushing your hair and walked over to the bathroom reluctantly. "Don’t come in while I'm in there, okay?"

"Why not?"

The look in your eyes seemed to say "isn't it obvious?"

"Humans need privacy? Okay, I got it, I won't spy on you, or at least I won't let you know," Traizo replied.

You shook your head. This was annoying. Then you got an idea concerning Kira, the Death Note and a way to obtain some privacy by keeping your shinigami busy checking up on Kira. "You can fly, right?"

"Yes, want me to carry you?" Traizo offered, he had heard that humans liked to fly.

"Yes, but first let me get changed and no peeking." The shinigami nodded at your words.

"Ill behave if you let me carry you," Traizo promised.

"You have a deal," with that said, you went into the bathroom and took the fastest shower you had ever taken. After the morning activities were done, you emerged from the bathroom and spoke, "we can't take off from here, follow me."

You didn't have to tell him twice as he would follow you anyway. Before leaving, you took the Death Note from its hiding place, put it in a small backpack with a few other things and headed to the front door. "I'm going to meet with some friends to study together, see you later." You told your parents on your way out.

After walking for a while, you came to a lonely park. It looked like the children who usually played there were sleeping in or watching their Saturday morning cartoons at home. Hidden among the trees, you once again spoke to the shinigami that only you could see. "Where is Kira?"

"In Japan," Traizo replied.

"Japan? I thought he would be closer than that!" It was a well known fact among the investigators and some of the public, but you didn't exactly keep up with the news except for glimpsing at the living room TV every now and then while your dad was watching it. As for the TV in your room, not once had it shown the news.

"Want me to fly you there? It won't take too long but if you have a thing for that Kira guy the answer is no," Traizo spoke with a hint of jealousy.

"It would take too long to go all the way to Japan." It was simple logic but then again, with a shinigami, you never know.

"We'll take a shortcut." Needless to say he really wanted to give you a ride. Traizo failed to mention that his shortcut was against the rules of the shinigami.

"How would that work?" You asked.

"We’ll take a detour to the shinigami world. Let's go but I won't tell you who Kira is if you have a thing for him." Again there was that jealousy.

"I don't have a thing for Kira, I don't even know him. I'm thankful he punished that criminal from years ago, but that's just about it. I'm just going to say thank you and give him the Death Note, maybe talk for a while then leave," you explained.

"I don't like it." Traizo had given that Death Note to you and he didn't want you to give it to anyone else, even if it was someone who would actually use it, but he still wanted to carry you. "I'll still carry you to Japan though."

"How long does it take from the shortcut?" You asked.

"A few hours," You somehow knew Traizo was hiding something, maybe it could take less then that.

"I changed my mind." Even if you had not known him for long, he was a terribly obvious liar.

"Fine, twenty minutes." It's obvious he was planning to take longer on purpose.

"Right, Then let’s start the trip." Flying in the arms of death was not something you ever thought you would be doing, yet today it would happen.

"Okay, let's go," You held on to his neck making sure you wouldn’t fall as you would probably be flying very high up. A pair of wings suddenly appeared on his back and he took off full speed.

Some kind of dark portal opened in the sky in front of you and the shinigami flew in. Though the time spend in the shinigami world before another portal sent you back to earth was short, it was just enough to get a glimpse of that world. Everything looked dead, even the land itself. The shinigami varied in shapes and sizes but they all looked like they came right out of a horror movie.

About a half an hour later, because although flying turned out to be more fun that you expected, you had an important delivery to make, Traizo finally landed. Since Japan was basically at the other side of the planet it was no surprise that while it was daytime back home it was late evening there. "Where's Kira?"

"He's over there. I've been watching them and getting information. You'll have fun thinking up ways to kill them," Traizo replied.

"I'm not going to kill them," you knew it was pointless to repeat things to the shinigami but you had to try anyway. Not too far away there were two young men. You noticed that you had landed in a college near a tennis court. It looked as if they were almost done with their game.

You approached the tennis court standing behind the fence and watched. "Which one?" You whispered the question to make sure they wouldn't hear. You were pretty sure they saw you but they were focused in the game so they didn't see how you got there, which to them would have looked like you were flying.

"The one on the left is Kira and the one on the right is Lawliet," Traizo answered.

"I can't make the delivery with him around." You would wait, and when Lawliet was gone, you would give the Death Note to Kira and let him do his vigilante work. Yet something made you curious about Lawliet. There was something different about him, the interesting kind of different. You smiled; you never thought that both Kira and his rival L Lawliet were around your age, but of course, you had no complaints about that.

The tennis game concluded with Lawliet aka L as the winner. It seemed that Light was a little distracted. He had seen Ryuk looking towards your shinigami and wondered what interested his shinigami so much about that human girl, since Light couldn't see Traizo.

Ryuk had met Traizo long ago, most of the shinigami had seen each other at least once even if they didn't speak, he was just surprised to see another shinigami in the human world, but he wasn't really friends with Traizo so he didn't approach. Besides, he had decided not to alert Light if he saw another shinigami.

But Light had seen Ryuk's curiosity and he was already analyzing the possibilities. At the same time L noticed Light's distraction and wondered if he knew that girl, anyone connected to Light was worth investigating as she might hold some clues to expose Light as Kira and prove L's suspicions.

Page 04: To a Distant Land

Light was annoyed but he tried not to show it. Ryuk noticed and gave him a mock grin, which Light ignored since there was not much else he could do about it in front of L. Clearly, Ryuk was amused by how hard Light tried to hide his annoyance.

"I'll give you a rematch tomorrow if you want," L offered.

"Leaving already?" Light found at least a little hint of victory in L being the one to walk away first.

"It's late, we can play again tomorrow," L looked towards you. "Besides, your friend is waiting."

"I don’t know her," Light didn't even look at you, as if he made it a point not to.

L only became more suspicious. Was that girl just someone who was passing by and stopped to see the game? She was already standing there when they noticed her. "Oh, alright, anyway it's still late. See you tomorrow."

"Right, see you tomorrow then," Light agreed.

You waited for L to leave and when he wasn't looking whispered to your shinigami. "Can he see you? Since he has a Death Note and all."

"No, he would have to touch your Death Note just as you would have to touch his, to see his shinigami," Traizo replied.

"So he does have a shinigami. Can you see the shinigami?" You asked.

"Yes, us shinigami can see and hear each other," Traizo replied.

You looked towards Kira, he and Lawliet were both leaving and walking in the same direction. You had to get them away from each other without being obvious. "Tell his shinigami to tell him to wait up."

"No, because I don't want you giving up the ownership of the Death Note. I'll kill him to take his ownership of it away and back to you if I must," Traizo replied.

You guessed this wouldn't be easy. "Can't I let him borrow it and use it even if technically it's still mine?"

"Yes, that's possible." Traizo seemed satisfied with that option; since you would still be the owner he would still follow you.

"Alright let's do that. Please get Kira away from Lawliet," you instructed.

Traizo nodded and went to talk to Ryuk. "Hello," Ryuk seemed to half ignore him making a signal towards Light. "You don't want to tell him I'm here? Alright I'll let him know myself." It wasn't too hard, a tab on the shoulder should do it.

Light looked towards Ryuk who shrugged silently claiming innocence then continued walking quietly. He felt another poke on the shoulder and looked at Ryuk again. "Wasn't me," Ryuk finally said.

Light's look seemed to say 'if not you then who?' but voicing the question would be too suspicious.

"Oh alright, I'll tell him or he'll blame me for bothering him and won't give me apples. It's annoying being poked on the shoulder like that." Light was surprised to find that Ryuk appeared to be talking to someone else, but who else could see him?

"There's another shinigami here." At Ryuk's words Light stopped walking. L looked back at him but Light tried to act natural and continued at a slower pace obviously wanting to put distance between them.

L played along and quickened his pace taking the first turn that came along the way and disappearing from Light line of view. He found it too easy but he wouldn't miss that chance. "Where?"

"Right behind you, he's with that girl," Ryuk replied.

That's all Light needed to hear to rush back to you. "Hello, can you understand English? It looks like the shinigami can understand both Japanese and English so they can translate if not."

"I can speak English," Light replied, he was pretty good at it too. "Who are you?"

"I'm," just as you were about to say your name you noticed Traizo frantically shaking his head. Of course, he must be worried that Kira would kill you. He had no reason to do so, but you decided not to take any chances. "Call me Hikari." It was the name of a song, you decided you didn't really need to hide that it was a nickname, after all, you had a shinigami bodyguard, it's not like he could force you to give him your real name, and he had no reason to try. "I'm guessing it's best if I don't call you," you whispered the last part "Kira."

"His name is Light Yagami," Traizo revealed.

"Light, huh? What a coincidence." A coincidence indeed that you had picked the nickname Hikari which also meant Light.

Light paused then realized your shinigami must have told you his name unless you had the eyes of a shinigami. "We shouldn't talk here. Let's go somewhere else." You nodded and followed him, it's not like you knew of any place you could go to talk since it was your first time in Japan, thus you had no inconveniences in letting Light pick the place.

After walking a short distance, you entered a café with Light. From the corner of your eyes, you thought you saw a shadow following you.

"It's L," Traizo explained.

"You sure like you keep your human well informed," Ryuk commented.

"I have my reasons," Traizo replied.

Light wasn't sure if Ryuk was only referring to this name or if your shinigami had said anything else. He didn't like not knowing what was going on. Light led you to a secluded table where no one could eavesdrop without being caught, just in case L came.

"How did you get your note?" Light asked.

"From Traizo, the shinigami. He's also the one that flew me to Japan," you answered truthfully.

Light looked exceptionally annoyed. It looked like you had your shinigami well trained and he could hardly get any information from his in exchange for apples. But then again he didn't mind too much, he liked the challenge. Light's annoyance lessened as he tried to look collected though he viewed you as a potentially dangerous enemy. "Do you have the eyes?"

His question confused you. Of course you had eyes, but what did he mean by 'the' eyes. "What?" Was it just a mistake in his English? No, he sounded like he was sure of what he was asking.

Traizo took this as his cue to explain. "By trading half your life span you can obtain the eyes of a shinigami, which allow you to see a person's name and lifespan by looking at their face. But that's not necessary or worth it for you. If you want to know someone's name or life span just ask me and I’ll tell you." That wasn’t exactly following the rules, but Traizo didn’t really care about the rules.

"No I don't." Light had no intentions of explaining about the eyes if you didn't have them, but it became obvious after your pause in which you looked at what appeared to him as empty space, that your shinigami was explaining.

"I see..." Light tried to think of what to say next, how to charm you into helping him, but you spoke first.

"Look I'm only here on a delivery. The notebook should still be of my ownership but I'm letting you borrow it. You can use it if you want and since this ownership is just a deal between my shinigami and me, I won't really be linked to the notebook in any way," you explained.

"In others words you're basically giving it to me but keeping ownership as a mere technicality to keep your shinigami," Light elaborated.

"Yeah, because he'll write your name on his notebook otherwise. Traizo kind of likes me." It was obvious Traizo felt a bit uncomfortable by Ryuk's surprised look upon your explanation. "I don't really have anything against you. I mean I don't think doing this is completely right, but at the same time you're helping and protecting people. It's complicated; I haven't decided what I think about this yet. As things stand now I'll let you continue, go on take it."

You were about to reach for your bag when Light shook his head and whispered, "not here." He had noticed L sitting a few tables away eating cheese cake. He sat pretty far so as to make it seem coincidental. Light was sure he couldn't hear the conversation from there since you both spoke in quiet voices, but he could certainly see what was going on and if he saw you give him anything, it would be suspicious. "My house."

It was just a quick stop at his house, finishing the delivery and going home, so you decided it was alright. "Okay," although as you passed L on the way out, you started to think that maybe you should stay in Japan for a little longer, after all, with Traizio's shinigami world shortcut, you could make it back home pretty quickly.

L certainly had a peculiar way to sit and eat. He was eccentric but adorable, that was the first description that popped into your head at that second when you walked past him. Even if he hasn't really done much except sit there eating his cheese cake in a peculiar way, he had somehow managed to make you smile.

Page 05: Finding Sweet Things

After a short walk you arrived at Light's house. "Do they know?"

"No, so don't tell," Light replied understanding that you meant if his family knew about his little secret.

"His dad is the police chief who's investigating Kira," Traizo revealed.

"A fun irony indeed," Light didn't like it when Ryuk commented on something and he had no idea what it was about. But it was obvious to him that the irony he was referring to must have been something your shinigami said. His guess would be that he told you about his father.

"Relax, I won't blow your cover," you assured. You didn't really like the feeling you got from Light. He was somewhat arrogant, but he was trying to help humanity, right? You decided to just stick with your plan and if anything happened and you changed your mind, you would send Traizo to fetch your Death Note.

"Right..." There was that over confident look again. Light figured that since you weren't fluent in Japanese, you couldn't tell anyone anything even if you wanted to.

Of course he failed to consider the possibility of havening Traizo translate so you could repeat. You could do it if you really wanted to get a message across in Japanese. You would say it in English and hint that you needed those words in Japanese. Then Traizo could slowly repeat it in Japanese for you to say along with him. It was easy to make up an excuse, saying that you first needed to organize your thoughts in your first language before thinking of the translation.

You heard a young girl say something to Light in Japanese. It was a greeting along the lines of welcome home or something like that.

Light said something to her in Japanese, probably explaining about why there was a girl visiting. A woman soon came and said something to you; possibly she was his mother welcoming her son's visitor.

"Konichiwa," it was a word that everyone knew, so you could at least say that. You weren't sure what to say in this situation, the part about using Traizo as a translator was only if you really needed to communicate a message, but for now it was best not to do anything unusual.

Light said something else and you thought you heard him call you Hillary, a less Japanese sounding name based on the Hikari nickname you gave him.

"He says you're an exchange student at college named Hillary and that you don't really speak a lot of Japanese, but you're really smart so you were chosen to come to Japan anyway. Also you are very shy, I guess he's trying to tell you to be quiet and not blow your cover," Traizo explained.

You nodded your quiet thanks at Traizo for the translation and followed Light when he spoke to you in English. "Let's talk in my room."

Once upstairs, sitting in Light's room, he gave you what was in his opinion a charming smile, but to you it looked like he was way too overconfident. "I suppose it's safe to make the delivery here."

"Yes, but are you sure you want to? We could be partners and build the perfect world together." Light reached to take your hand but suddenly pulled it back with an expression of pain and a few scratches. You saw clearly what had happened.

"My shinigami is kind of protective of me." You pulled the notebook from your bag and looked at it. So Kira was an overconfident guy who thought all the girls would automatically fall in love with him. He was certainly not what you expected but he was still punishing criminals.

Though Light had thought about ways to use you to take suspicion away from him, with a protective shinigami by your side, it was dangerous. "I'll accept the notebook then."

"Wait, what if he's thinking about killing you?" Traizo asked. "I'll avenge you but that won't bring you back to life."

Light was starting to look impatient. Not having his plans turn out as expected was one thing, having a few set backs was something that he could handle, but not being able to easily charm a girl bothered him. "Later."

He looked at you with a mix of puzzlement and frustration but quickly hid it. "Didn't you want to give it to me?"

Your instinct told you not to give him the Death Note, true that he already had one, but maybe he shouldn’t have two. "I changed my mind; I might give it to you later. It's not like you're out of room to write in yours, right?"

"Have you decided to use it?" Light asked.

"No, I just want to keep it for a while." He didn't like your reply, but there was little he could do under Traizo’s threatening invisible presence. Ryuk looked entertained.

"It's dangerous to keep something like this without hiding it. If it's found and tested you can blow both our cover. We'll both end up in jail. I can protect you from that if you give the Death Note to me. Let me help you," Light insisted and you saw right through his charm.

"You know, not all girls will easily fall for you. You're too overconfident." With that said, you got up started to leave.

Light followed making, sure not to get too close or surely he would get more than just a scratch from Traizo. "I'm trying to help you."

"You think you're the only one smart enough to hide a Death Note well? Traizo I want you to hold my Death Note for me. I'm not giving it up, I just want you to hold it," you requested.

"No problem." Traizo took your notebook and rolled it up then threw it in a gap between the stitches on his chest. It was strange from a human’s perspective that he kept things inside his ribcage, but it was certainly better than losing the Death Note or having it be found by the wrong person.

"Now no one will see it, let alone try to take it if it's literally inside a shinigami," you assured.

"Why all this? Why come this far just to do that?" Light was angry.

"I need to think about this," was your reply, though the real answer was more something along the lines of getting a bad feeling from him. "I'm leaving now."

Light walked you to the door and after you were gone it was easy to guess he must have started plotting against you, although you were safe because he didn't know your name and you weren't really planning to see him again anyway. Yet your opinion about Light was still torn, on one hand he was the classic guy that appeared handsome at first, but too overconfident once you got to know him, yet on the other hand he was also Kira, a hero, kind of. For now, you decided you didn't like him; his attitude was just too annoying.

"Lawliet is following us," Traizo warned as you walked down the street, thinking about the recent happenings. "I think he will reveal himself."

You kept walking normally and waited for the detective to come out. You were curious about him and besides, Traizo was invisible and you had nothing that looked incriminating, so it would be a bit suspicious if you tried to avoid him. You had a feeling that if you ran away to find a hidden place to take flight, L would chase you and then it would take longer to get rid of him.

Your footsteps took you back to the café and Lawliet was still following you. He made his presence known when he entered the café as naturally as any customer would. You might as well talk to him and clear suspicion, because even if you weren't planning to see Light again any time soon, in your short time in Japan you decided that you wanted to visit the country again, and a shinigami was a very convenient mode of transportation.

The young woman standing behind the counter said something to you in Japanese, possibly asking if you wanted to order anything since you had started looking at the various desserts displayed behind the glass while you waited for Lawliet to make his move. If your calculations were correct, back home it would be nearly lunch time and you didn't have anything for breakfast so it would be nice to put something in your stomach right about now. After all, part of visiting a distant land was trying the local cuisine.

"Do you speak English?" You asked and the woman looked a bit confused.

She replied in Japanese which meant she didn't understand you.

"Maybe I can help you out," L saw the opportunity and took it. "Is this your first time in Japan?"

"Yes it is, I just recently arrived so I haven't had a lot of time to look around yet," you replied.

"I thought I saw you with Light some time ago, he's my classmate," L said.

"We're..." 'What? Cousins? No that won't work and it would be weird if he tried to flirt again.' "Internet friends."

"I see, but you must want to place your order soon, so I won't make you wait," L was clearly suspicious of you.

You could guess where this was going and had no inconveniences with it. "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Cheese cake," L replied with a smile inevitably forming on his lips.

You laughed. "Maybe something more classic Japanese?"

"How about sushi then and cheese cake for dessert?" L asked. It was clear he loved cheese cake.

"That sounds good, you really like sweets don't you?" You continued the casual conversation and for a second you let yourself forget that this was detective Lawliet, Kira's rival.

"Yes, they're delicious; you must like them too right?" L was adorable.

"Of course, who doesn't like sweets?" You smiled.

End of Note I

Disclaimer, I don't own Death Note. Traizo and Trado are OCs.