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To Save Your Life: Note II

Page 06: Running Away

Just as you guessed, you ended up in the same table as Lawliet. While you had your sushi lunch, though it was night in Japan, L was surrounded by cakes of different types; most of them slices of cheese cake with a few slices of chocolate and vanilla here and there, many of them with strawberries or cherries on top. "I'll be honest," he spoke while cutting a peace of cheese cake with his fork which he held on the tip of his fingers while sitting in that usual yet cute way. He ate the piece savoring it then continued. "The percent of you working for Kira is quite high, I would say 5%, it's not 7% because your personality somehow doesn't fit with what I imagine Kira's minion to be like, but I don't know you very well yet so those percents may change." That was supposed to be high? If five or seven were high probabilities, then the amount of legally useful evidence available must be quite low, logic told you that much.

You rolled your eyes. Kira's minion? Yeah right, "I'll be honest with you, I'm not Kira's minion."

"So you do know who I am." You realized with his words that it had been a trick. If you weren't connected to Kira then you might have looked confused and ask what he's talking about. L looked at you as if waiting for you to comment further.

"Yes you're... L." You didn't say Lawliet, you wouldn't be able to explain how you knew that without giving out too much information or lying, neither of which you wanted to do. If he saw you with Light then that might explain why you knew he was L, Light could have mentioned it, but Light didn’t know about the name Lawliet.

Though his expression remained unchanged, you could almost see relief in L's eyes and the motivation to investigate further. "May I ask your name?"

"Hikari," Might as well give him the same nickname you told Light..

"Just Hikari?" L asked leaning over a cake and poking at the strawberry, but then decided to leave it for last. He had finished quite a few of those cakes already and you weren't even half done with your sushi.

"It's not nice to ask for my name before giving me yours." You didn't really sound annoyed, more like curious to see what he would do, though he would most likely give you a fake name.

"Hideki Ryuuga," he replied knowing full well you knew it wasn't really his name.

When hearing that name an image instantly came to your mind and with that image, there came a song. "The same name as the J-pop artist. My name is Hikari Uchiha." It was obviously just as fake as his name. You understood then that when he asked your name he was in fact fully expecting you to give him a fake one; he just wanted something to call you.

"Fair enough miss Uchiha," L ate the last of his cakes.

"Just Hikari will do," you voiced.

"I know your name is fake but it seems you don't mind that I know. You even picked a Japanese nickname even though you’re not quiet fluent in the language," L went over the facts.

"Just because I don't feel like giving my name to a total stranger doesn't mean I've done anything wrong," you countered.

"True, with how Kira kills, sometimes it's best to keep your name to yourself, but if you know I'm L then I'm not a total stranger to you." His reasoning made sense, yet you easily found a hole in it.

"Let's just say I don't know you well enough and like you said, I’m not from Japan. I'm not from around here, so logically I'll be more careful in a land I'm not too familiar with." He looked thoughtful at your reasoning.

"Do you blame me for it?" It was a curiosity rather than an interrogation. You could tell his last question wasn't related to the investigation in the same way as the others.

"What?" Yet it still made little sense.

"Many people say that I brought Kira to Japan by saying he was hiding in Japan," L explained.

"If he's here then he's here, you were just stating facts," you reasoned.

"I'm glad you think so and I'm glad that you still decided to visit Japan even with Kira being here," L said.

"I'm innocent so I have nothing to fear." It was true, though the real reason you had nothing to fear from Kira was because you had a shinigami guarding you.

"Have you had the chance to visit any interesting places yet?" L asked.

'What's he doing? Where does he hope to take this conversation? Is he trying to make me drop my guard or maybe contradict myself?' You wondered. "No, I told you I just arrived."

There was a pause. You wondered why Traizo had been so quiet and was yet to complain about you talking to L for too long. The shinigami appeared to be the over protective type. Then you noticed that although L's face was essentially expressionless, his eyes revealed surprise as he stared at something behind you.

"What is it?" You cautiously looked back for just a second but saw only your shinigami blocking whatever L was looking at over there. You moved your head as if indicating for Traizo to get out of the way so you could see what had captured L's attention and made him fall silent. The shinigami moved but there was nothing unusual behind him, unless Traizo was what caught L's attention. Did Traizo become visible to L? But when, if L had not touched the Death Note?

"I'm sorry I was distracted for a minute there." L seemed unsure as if he did see something, but refused to tell you assuming, you didn't see it or didn't want him to notice it, but what was that something?

L's face might have been mostly uninterested, but you could still see a hint of some form of emotion in his eyes, curiosity maybe? Something was definitely going on. Was it Traizo? Well if it wasn't him, he would probably know. You searched for a way out and spotted it in the shape of a door with a pink square on it. On the square there was a stick figure with a skirt. "Can you excuse me for a moment?" By now the meal was finished, so it wouldn't be too strange if you suddenly left towards the restroom.

He noticed you were looking towards the restrooms and nodded, but of course he didn't want you to leave, he had too many questions that needed answers.

You headed towards the empty restroom and called your shinigami. "Traizo come over here." You couldn't call him too loudly or L would hear. "Traizo?" He was following you a second ago, why didn’t he come? You opened the door slightly and peeked out. L's unblinking gaze was glued to the door. "Traizo get in here." Sure enough your shinigami was outside. After calling him in an annoyed whisper you closed the door certain that L must have found that suspicious, but there was no other way to get Traizo's attention fast. "Didn’t you hear me calling you?"

"I thought you were doing one of those things when you say something and mean something else, because I thought you didn't want me to follow you to the bathroom," Traizo sounded confused.

"You mean sarcasm? You shouldn't follow me to the bathroom but I'm not here to use the bathroom. I'm here to ask you something without L hearing us," you kept your voice to a whisper.

"A private chat away from that guy? So you do like me." Sometimes Traizo jumped to conclusions a little too quickly.

"I said I would be your friend. I want to know what happened. L looked surprised for a second there. Did you have anything to do with it?" You eyed the guilty yet not regretful looking shinigami suspiciously.

"While you were talking I sunk into the floor and moved in the basement. I came up under the table and touched his foot with the Death Note. He took off his shoes to put his feet in the seat, it was convenient that he wasn't wearing socks," Traizo revealed.

“No!" You raised you voice a little more than you wanted to. "Now I won't be able to visit Japan anymore because I'll risk being arrested because you made me look very suspicious. What if he's calling the police for backup right now?"

"I thought that if he knew you had a shinigami watching you, he wouldn't dare," Traizo tried to justify his actions.

"This is bad, let's go home quick." Even if L's presence intrigued you, it was best not to get into trouble with the police and be put in a position similar to Kira's, maybe even judged as him.

"Right let's leave," Traizo couldn't agree more and you had a feeling that it was all done on purpose because he didn't like it when you talked to guys.

"We'll sneak out the window." You pointed to a small window quite high up. It was uncomfortable but L would probably follow if you didn't take that way out. "Help me get up there." Traizo did as he was told but the window was so small no one could possibly fit through there easily.

"Isn't it easier if you use the door?" You didn’t reply to Traizo’s question because you were already half way out the window but there was more to it than that. Standing outside was L, the great detective who caught you in your attempt to escape.

"You... how?" You couldn't find the words.

"I would have been a gentleman and paid the bill, you didn't have to sneak out, oh and you forgot your bag" L said hold it up.

Luckily, you left your IDs at home since you didn't take the car. "Just help me get down from here." This trip had turned out quite differently from what you imagined.

Page 07: Followed by Misery

L reached to try to pull you out of the window, but the second his hands touched yours, Traizo appeared through the wall and picked him up. The shinigami held the young man several feet above the ground by the back of his shirt. "Don't touch her!"

"She asked for my help," L replied seemingly indifferent to the fact that he was being held above the ground by a strange and large creature. But his brain was going a hundred miles per second, searching for an explanation with something that at least vaguely resembled logic, even if it was supernatural logic.

"Shut up human don't you dare talk back to me. I can kill you in no time or better yet force, you to inflict tremendous pain on yourself before committing suicide, a slow painful death." Traizo shook L, still holding him by his now ripped shirt, which had seven holes in the back for Traizo's seven claws, but luckily L himself was still unharmed.

"Traizo don't hurt him! Put him down," you knew this would bring trouble.

"He'll be troublesome for you. It's best if I kill him now," Traizo insisted.

"No! You will get me in a lot of trouble if you do, understand? Besides he's not really a bad person, he's just doing his job. Put him down," you persisted.

With a deadly glare directed at L, Traizo put him down below the window where you were still stuck. "L Lawliet, if you lay a finger on her, I will give you a painful death."

At the worse time possible you managed to get through the small window and fell towards L. He was quick to react despite his surprise at learning that his full name was not a secret. He caught you, which made Traizo growl in anger and retrieve his own Death Note from his ribcage and a bony pen. "Don't kill him!" You insisted once again as you got to your feet.

"Fine I'll let the human live, but he'll accuse you with the law, I'm sure of it. You'll ask me to kill him soon enough, unless you do it yourself," Traizo pouted.

"He has nothing to accuse me of, because I have not committed any crimes." You argued, then looked at L. "Please understand that I can't help you. I know you must suspect who Kira is and with all you've seen you probably know all about how Kira's power works, but I cannot testify or anything like that. I don't wish to get involved in this." Giving your Death Note to Kira had been a bad idea all along. You just didn't like the way he was so arrogant.

"I understand," L had a certain determination in his eyes. "Now I that I know how it works I should be able to find evidence against Light."

"What are you planning to do?" Traizo asked.

If L really was the greatest detective, if he really was a legend, then he would capture Kira with no problems. But then again, to present supernatural evidence in court, even if it was real evidence, would not be easy. He would need something more.

Traizo's gaze suddenly became focused on the skies above and then he took flight. "I'm not going!" He flew around as if avoiding something else that was flying, except you and L couldn't see it. "Leave me be or else!" Traizo yelled.

The battle in mid air continued until it looked as if Traizo was out numbered as he kept looking in every direction and tried to fight back desperately. "Could it be that more shinigami came for him?" If that was so, then it would explain why you couldn't see them since you had not touched their Death Notes, but why were they after Traizo? Was it because of something he did in the shinigami world?

The invisible shinigami took Traizo away, disappearing into the night sky. "Since that must be Kira's secret, a shinigami, you do realize I can't just let you go now." Without your shinigami guarding you, there was nothing to stop L from detaining you.

"I thought you would say that." But of course it wasn't your only worry because now you were stuck in Japan and no one would believe you when you told them how you got there. Further more, it looked like your shinigami was in danger and you didn't know what to do. "Just so you know, I didn't kill anyone, I'm not like Kira." At least you could clarify that much.

L developed a theory, one that was not quite complete but at least he was making progress. He still didn't know about humans using a Death Note but he knew about shinigami. "Kira must have a shinigami on his side, one that he can control. The notebook, there's something about that notebook too, because I saw him when it touched my foot, or maybe any shinigami item can cause them to become visible. I know it must have something to do with how they kill. If those were other shinigami that took your shinigami, then maybe the item touched by the human who gains the ability to see them has to belong to that specific shinigami." L voiced those thoughts on purpose to see your reactions to what he said and gain clues from your expression.

You blinked, he was good. "I'm guessing now you have questions for me, but again, I remind you that I'm innocent."

"If you're innocent then you have nothing to worry about and you should have no inconveniences in answering my questions truthfully. Running away is very incriminating," L had a better understanding of what was going on, but he still needed to figure out the missing pieces and how to present the entire puzzle as legal proof.

"He would have killed you," you pointed out.

At this L placed his thumb on his lower lip and looked thoughtful. "No, he seemed angry, but if you asked him not to kill me he would listen. My theory is he is attracted to you, the probability of that is at least 95% judging by the way he is protective of you and wanted to kill me only because I caught you."

"But there are no laws against being friends with a shinigami," you pointed out.

"If you're innocent and cooperate I'll grant you the protection of the police if the shinigami who took him away come after you," L explained.

"I doubt humans can protect me from shinigami but after I answer your questions and prove my innocence, what I really want is a ride back home." If Traizo was taken to the shinigami world, which was the most likely explanation, then there was no point in searching for him in Japan.

"Where do you live?" L asked. When you replied to his question, he asked another one. "There is no ID in your bag, can I see an ID card or your passport?"

"I don't have either. I didn't come to Japan on an airplane, I came because Traizo brought me," you replied.

Again L had that thoughtful look, he wanted to know more about what shinigami were capable of doing. "Let's continue this conversation somewhere more official." You knew his real name and that made him uncomfortable, but he tried not to show it.

"Am I being arrested?" You asked tempted to make a run for it, except you knew that would do more bad than good, especially since you didn't know when and if Traizo would return.

"Only detained, an arrest will not happen if you answer all my questions honestly and prove your innocence, right now you're only a suspect of being Kira's ally. You must above all answer with the truth, or it can and will be used against you," L replied.

"Understood," this day was not turning out how you imagined it would. Now you just hoped that Lawliet would believe that you're innocent and that Traizo would somehow come back unharmed.

Page 08: Sticking Like Glue

The interrogation was long and amazingly exhausting. You never thought you could feel so tired just by sitting at a hotel room talking to a handsome young man and eating cheese cake. Well that was one way to look at the situation, but although it could be seen that way, that's not exactly how it was, because this was not a regular conversation or situation. Of course, you were full long before he was, and during the last part of the interrogation he was the only one eating. Besides, you didn't feel like eating much when your mind kept wondering off to the shinigami world and what kind of fate awaited Traizo.

Needless to say the interrogation wasn't as formal as the ones in those police movies with the dark room and the dim light hanging in the middle of the room over a small table, where the suspect sat facing the detective. However it was rather frustrating. L had an ability to read between the lines and catch people off guard. In the end he managed to push you to a corner, so to speak, and you had no choice but to reveal the entire truth from the beginning.

"The fact that you changed your mind about giving Kira the Death Note doesn't change that you were going to give it to him," L pointed out.

To that you replied in your defense. "It certainly does change it as he would have two Death Notes instead of one and I think that does make a big difference."

"You didn't let me finish," L looked adorable with his thumb in his mouth again.

You weren't sure if you wanted to hug L and hope he would comfort your worries, or throw his cake on his face for being so persistent. Yet you realized you simply couldn't stay mad at him for trying to do what he thought was right. It caught your attention how smart L was, how he could analyze every detail and read you like a book? It was annoying in a way, but still impressive. Maybe he could even be capable of figuring out a way to save Traizo if he could investigate a little more. The shinigami had come into your life by surprise and his presence had ultimately led to this series of events. Things were not currently looking very good, but you couldn't just abandon him. You would save Traizo one way or another.

"You could still be thought of as an accomplice but you didn't actually commit a crime, other than traveling to Japan with no passport or ID. However the law only covers land, sea and air travel, not travel through other worlds, so you won't be accused for that. To clear your name of being an accomplice of Kira you'll be required to cooperate in the Kira investigation. If your shinigami returns his help will be very useful." It wasn't a matter of catching Kira anymore, but rather presenting sufficient proof so that the judge and jury wouldn't think L is crazy to say shinigami exist. He needed to find a way to reveal Light's shinigami.

"What do I need to do?" You asked.

"Pretend to be Kira's ally. If you can obtain his shinigami’s Death Note or a piece of a page, then that will be enough. Make him trust you so that he reveals his shinigami to you, then the shinigami will be the proof," L explained his plan.

"I don't think he'll let me see his shinigami, very much less touch the Death Note, but I'll try. Since he thinks Traizo is protecting me and he can’t really see him, Light shouldn't try anything. But I really don’t know what happened to Traizo and I’m worried," you voiced.

"If Traizo comes back notify me immediately, I'll give you a device so you can do it without Light noticing if he’s around at that time. He doesn't know your real name so he won't be able kill you," L reminded.

"What about getting me back home? I can’t just simply disappear."

L would play his cards carefully. "I'll arrange the trip and all the paper work for you to come to Japan as an exchange student. That will be your cover at home."

"What about Traizo?"

"I'll try to find some information about what happened to him too, but there's not a lot available. We might have to wait for him to return on his own."

So it was settled. You would now be working undercover to catch a supernatural serial killer. Leading that investigation was L Lawliet, who obviously wasn't too happy about someone knowing his name, a secret that you were required to keep. Soon after the interrogation was over, morning approached over the horizon in Japan and back home it must have been night. Things were off to a complicated start and about to get more complicated. Settling things with the entire, exchange student cover might take a few days and those days would bring surprises.

With Traizo still missing and many questions hanging in the air, with plenty of tension to go with them, you were sent back home on a private jet but didn’t get home until morning. You were allowed to call and say you were staying over at your best friend’s house so that wasn’t really a problem to add to growing list.

Even if you were a college student, you tried not to worry your parents by disappearing for too long knowing all too well that your mother could suffer the same fate as your sister if she got a bad scare. After that day, which you always pushed to the back of your mind, you vowed to take care of your family.

Looking out the glass window of the jet you thought that maybe this wasn't so bad. If you cooperated with L, you could earn his trust and your name would be cleared of all suspicions. In the end, if it was Kira or you, it had to be Kira who got caught and after meeting him and thinking back on the short time you spend with him, catching Kira felt more right by the second.

You should have guessed that L would investigate you further before letting you become part of the Kira case crew. You found it odd that he would allow time to pass before putting your connection with Light to good use, but figured he was probably searching for ways to find sufficient proof that wasn't considered too unrealistic to be legal.

Then surprisingly, L showed up at college and started walking along side you and your friend as if he did it every day. Your best friend looked over to him and whispered to you. "Do you know him?"

"Hideki Ryuuga," you replied.

L smiled, glad that you had remembered to call him by that alias. "Pleased to meet you," he said to your friend who also introduced herself.

"Can I talk to you for a moment Hideki? We'll be right back." Before your friend had the chance to reply, you pulled L away. Once at a hidden corner, you asked. "What are you doing here? Did something happen? Did you catch Kira without me? Did you hear from Traizo?"

"Just investigating to see if you're trust worthy," L, now going by the name of Hideki Ryuuga at your college, did not give you a good reply. "Sorry, I don't have any news from Traizo. I understand you're worried about him, but there's practically no information to work with that would help in finding him at the moment. I suspect Kira's shinigami could be involved."

You had a feeling that wasn't the case, but you wouldn't discard the possibility. "A bit straight forward aren't you?" You referred to his comment of investigating you.

L looked at you without blinking. "Would you believe me if I said I only came to visit?"

"No." That was the first answer that came into your mind, yet it somehow felt wrong. True that you would not believe it if he suddenly showed up to visit given the circumstances in which you met, but you truly wished that this was just a visit from a friend who lived far away, yet you knew you couldn't just wish this mess away.

"I thought so. It should be time to go to class now." Without another word spoken between you two, you followed him. It was easy to guess L had all the same classes as you.

The day seemed to progress slowly, but more or less normally, except for L constantly watching you. In every class you could almost feel his stare burning the back of your head. Then during your break your best friend insisted on having a word with you alone. So it turns out that the only way to lose your newly acquired second shadow was to go to the girl's bathroom. L did not protest to that, which gave you the sinking feeling that there was a microphone somewhere in there or maybe on you. You dug around your bag wondering if he had placed an electronic device there while you were distracted.

Your best friend gave you an odd look; you were certainly behaving strangely that day. "So about Hideki," she gave a small pause, but instead of continuing you merely finished the search and concluded that if there was a spying device somewhere, it wouldn't be in such an obvious place, or maybe it was more well hidden. Your friend continued. "He seems to follow you around a lot and even if he's new here you knew his name. Is he an old friend? You seem to know him well since he’s been sticking to you like glue and all."

It would seem strange that you're spending all your time with him if he wasn't an old friend. "Yes, we studied together in middle school, but then he moved far away." It was convenient that you had met your friend in high school, so she wouldn’t be suspicious about not having met Hideki.

"I think he likes you," she gave you a teasing smile.

Somehow you saw that coming from a mile away. "He's just new here and doesn't know anyone else."

"Trust me there's more to it than that, he was totally staring at you in class while sitting in that weird way," she insisted.

This would not be easy to explain. "I think that's only because we haven't seen each other in a long time. You know how it is, people are always surprised at how much other people change over the years."

Page 09: Until a Friend Saves the Day

Needless to say, your friend did not give up until you considered the possibility that Hideki did in fact like you. At least she didn't give you a hard time about your decision not to take any action about that right away.

When you came out of the girls' restroom and looked at L, somehow you knew right away that he had been listening. Your friend made up an excuse to leave, which made it obvious she was giving you alone time with Hideki. Then L confirmed your suspicious, "good cover."

"Mind telling me where the bug is?" You asked.

"That information is classified," L replied just as you thought he would.

The day continued to go by slowly, especially the rest of the lunch break during which people kept staring at L and his massive appetite for cake and peculiar way to sit. You wanted to go home early, but that might have looked suspicious as if you were avoiding him. Finally, at the end of the day, when you arrived at home, L was already at your house by the time you parked your car.

"You've got to be kidding me." There he was, standing in front of your house waiting. "For how long will the investigation last?" You asked.

"Until I am at least 90% sure that you will not betray me, or not betray me without getting caught, I won't stay for too long." L answered. It wasn’t that you didn’t want him to stay, just not to investigate you. Plus you still haven't heard from Traizo and you were not looking forward to seeing Light again.

In the end, L did stay for quite a long time even if he said he wouldn't. It was all thanks to your mother's insistence in giving your guests food. He was all too happy to eat the sweets she kept brining to your room as a 'study snack'. Eventually, L did leave and it seemed that you managed to earn a good amount of his trust.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Your friend Hideki seems really nice," your mother commented. Of course she was just happy he actually ate all the sweet snacks since it made her effort feel appreciated.

"Yeah..." The truth was that, though he was investigating you, it all came to a point where you told yourself to relax and just stop worrying because that would make you look suspicious. In an effort to make you lower you guard L had started bringing up casual topics as a way to get to know each other, since you would be working together. But you were sure that in the end he enjoyed talking to you just as much as you did. It turned out you had quite a lot of things in common. It was a refreshing moment even with all the worries and pressure that continued to build up.

"He seems to be a gentleman, very polite and well educated. I won't say no," you blinked at your father's words.

"You won't say no to what?" A warm feeling crept over your face.

"If you're dating him I mean. Why else would he put so much effort into giving a good impression, other than that strange way of sitting? But maybe that was just to show he has a sense of humor." Your father mused. Oh great, now your parents thought you were dating L, whom they knew as Hideki. Not that the idea was unpleasant, but it wasn’t true.

You were very tempted to reply to that with something along the lines of 'the reason he wants you to trust him is to make it easier to investigate me and interrogate you without even noticing you're being interrogated.' Yet your mind somehow strayed away from the topic of the investigation and into the image of the detective's smiling face. You weren't sure if you wanted to admit it, but his confidence brought you hope that the Kira case would be over soon, as if all that was holding him back were technicalities; because laws to punish supernatural crimes didn't really exist and Light could use a number of theories that didn't defy logic to defend himself.

Light could make it look like one big plot from an organization led by L. He could turn things around saying that L just wanted someone to blame because Kira couldn't possibly be a single person. That's why L needed a vast amount of proof and most likely a confession or several witnesses to support the existence of shinigami and leave no room for it being considered a trick and used against him.

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day was when you first heard about the second Kira, one that apparently could kill just by looking at a person's face. That one had the eyes of a shinigami. That was when L contacted you and took you off the investigation before you even got the chance to do anything due to the risk.

'I can't believe he took me off the investigation team, but I guess he doesn't want any innocent people getting hurt.' The day had been slow and boring, you just didn't feel like doing anything or going anywhere. Then a familiar shinigami came through a wall. "Traizo!" You were certainly surprised to see him.

"I came back for you." Traizo was badly injured, even if you had thought it wasn't possible to injure a shinigami. Maybe it was impossible by human means, but it was pretty clear that the fight that took place before he disappeared was against other shinigami. There was strange sand coming from his wounds instead of blood.

"What happened? What's going on?" You had a bad feeling about this.

"I broke a few rules and the last one I broke was the last drop. I've never cared too much about shinigami rules, I'm taking you to our world anyway," Traizo explained.

Then you came to a realization. "This was about the shortcut! But you didn't say it was against the rules."

"That doesn't matter anymore." He picked you up easily even if you struggled to get free. If breaking the rules did this to him then you wouldn’t let him do it again.

"Let me go! You can’t break the rules again if it’s this dangerous!"

"Are you alright?" Your father called. You could hear his footsteps heading towards your room.

"I'm fine!" You didn't want to get your parents involved in this. Surely the shinigami who came after Traizo before would hurt them or even kill them without a second thought if they got in the way.

Your father could sense the fright in your voice and wasn't quite convinced that you were alright. Then you heard your mother's voice calling your name as well. They were coming, this was not good.

"Traizo please, let me show them I'm alright. I promise I'll meet you outside. Mom is... her heart is. She will..." You couldn't find a way to explain it because you were reminded of your sister and it was painful.

"I understand," Traizo put you down and waited.

You opened the door and forced yourself to smile. "I just got a call from a classmate who realized that our test was this week and not next week. The teacher wasn't clear enough on it. We need to study right away so I'll be meeting a few classmates in the library now."

Your parents looked at each other then at you. They believed it regardless of how odd it sounded, but they didn’t think you would have a reason to lie about such a thing. Thus you were able to get outside of the house without giving them a scare.

You walked down the street with your shinigami following impatiently. "We're leaving, let’s go somewhere else. Somewhere you want to visit."

You purposely led him to a lonely area of a nearby park so you could talk without getting weird stares. "Wait, where are we going and why? You can't just offer to take me somewhere if it’ll hurt you. Those wounds, how can they be healed? What do you need?"

"You took my brother's life but I couldn't take yours," Traizo's words were unexpected and confusing.

"Your brother's life? I haven't written any names in the Death Note and if your brother is also a shinigami then how could that work?" You asked.

"It was years ago..." Traizo began his explanation and then you learned about what happened in the shinigami world the day when your sister died.

You felt a pain you had pushed away for years and in that moment missed your sister more than ever. "If I hasn't taken that shortcut... No, it wasn't my fault, it was those two criminals, they killed her, maybe they didn't lay a finger on her, but it was them who took her life. It was them who caused her heart to stop beating. " You held back tears or at least tried. For so long you blamed yourself until one day you realized that your sister wouldn't blame you, so you shouldn't either.

"That's what I thought. I blamed you and I blamed them. I was so angry I didn't even go after the criminal who survived. I just sat in the shinigami world rotting away without writing a single name. Then I decided to come see you, I don't blame you anymore. The Death Note I gave you was my brother's." Traizo explained.

"Thank you, to give me something from your brother; it must be special to you. I'm not going to write in it, but I'll accept ownership of it. It's just a bit dangerous for me to keep it so please take care of it for me." At least you knew no one was eavesdropping on the conversation since you had finally found the listening device that L put inside one of your books before, when and how, you did not know. "But right now what worries me is that sand."

"Because it'll look suspicious?" Traizo asked.

"Because it looks like you're bleeding and that can't be a good sign. Maybe bandages will make it stop. I don't know much about shinigami first aid, will that work?" You examined one of the sand bleeding cuts on his arms. Then suddenly the flow of sand seemed to stop and the cut closed itself leaving only a mark where it used to be.

"When a human cares for a shinigami, even if it's just as a friend, if a human truly cares, their touch can heal."

You gave him a hug, which took him by surprise. "This time we'll be real friends, but what in the world happened to you? Those were wounds just now, they're healed but I thought shinigami couldn't be injured."

Page 10: When in Judgment we Stand

Traizo sat down in a park bench beside you and looked thoughtful. "I was attacked by other shinigami that is all."

You knew there was more to it than that. "I know but can you tell me more?" Somehow you had a feeling that this went beyond a few broken rules.

"I broke a few shinigami rules but that's not important now. I'm alright." Clearly he was avoiding the subject.

You wanted to know exactly what happened but you didn't want to be pushy if Traizo didn't feel ready to tell you. "Stay safe from now on, alright?"

"Right, how have you been during this time?" Traizo changed the subject.

"Well, I'm off the Kira case because from what I've heard there's a second Kira with the eyes of a shinigami so Lawliet thought it would be too dangerous. I think he might come back though. Maybe I could give him a page then and hopefully that will be enough evidence even if it's supernatural," you explained.

"Then you don’t want to go to Japan? Let’s go somewhere else then. A tall place because humans like tall places," the shinigami suggested.

"I thought you said you would stay safe. No more breaking the rules and what makes you think we like tall places?" You were curious to know more about how humans appeared to be from a shinigami's perspective.

"I've heard a lot of humans say they like places like the Eiffel Tower, the Niagara Falls, the Tower of Pizza, the Statue of Liberty and high places like that."

You laughed, "it's Pisa not Pizza, I guess we do like building tall places but that doesn't mean we like being high up all the time. Speaking of pizza, do they have any in the shinigami world? Do shinigami even eat?"

"We don't need food but we can eat. I've seen humans eat pizza, they seem to like it, but I've never had any." You stared at Traizo as if you were seeing him for the first time; never tasting pizza was a cruel fate that you would not allow.

"I'm getting you some pizza," you rose from the bench in determination. "I'm pretty sure you'll like it."

Of course your shinigami had no inconveniences in that, he was very happy to see you again and that he got to spend some time with you. He followed you to a pizza restaurant while you explained the possible toppings on the way. You had to take the pizza to go because it would scare people if it just disappeared since they couldn’t see Traizo eating it. It was still a bit early to head home so you returned to the same lonely area of the park. While most people stayed on the other side where the fountain was, that side of the park seemed to be a bit forgotten.

"Okay, here you go. Extra cheese, it's a classic." You thought that maybe it was best to start with something simple and classic when introducing your shinigami to pizza for the first time.

Traizo picked up a slice and looked at it. Cheese was a strange substance and very stretchy. He took a bite visibly satisfied with the taste but couldn't bite the cheese off. It just kept stretching so instead he opened his mouth to inhumanly large proportions, since he wasn't human anyway, then swallowed the slice whole and looked like he enjoyed it. "This stuff is really good! There's nothing like this in the shinigami world." He suddenly paused and looked around.

"What's wrong?"

"They're back for me," with no time for more, he took flight and another battle started between Traizo and other shinigami you couldn't see.

"Traizo!" You were worried about him. Last time he got hurt and this time it could be worse, it had to stop. But what could you possibly do? Before you were able to come up with any ideas, you felt like you were being lifted into the air. "Let me go!" They didn't let you go and they captured Traizo as well.

xoxox xox xoxox

"I have to go for a little while," Ryuk announced. Just when things were getting interesting after Light met Misa.

"Why? Where are you going?" Light asked.

"To the shinigami world; the king is calling us to witness a trial. This hasn't happened in thousands of years. I'll be back when it's over," Ryuk left towards the shinigami world.

If all the shinigami were gathering there, that must mean Rem was going as well. Light considered taking the opportunity to get rid of Misa and take her Death Note, but then Rem would just avenge her by taking his life so that wouldn't work.

xoxox xox xoxox

When you arrived at the shinigami world, all the shinigami became visible to you at least while you remained there. Being there for more than just a few minutes brought several things to your attention such as how hard it was to breathe and the rotten scent that lingered in the air which seemed to come from the land itself. You were put into a cage made of bones along with Traizo, a special cage made so shinigami couldn't break out of it. "Traizo, what's happening?"

"I told you I broke some rules right? Well I got caught. I didn't mean for you to get involved. I thought I could keep getting away with it."

"What will happen now?" You couldn’t wait any longer to get complete answers.

"I broke a few rules, but it seemed I'm being judged mostly because I was in the human world for a long time without having a true purpose of being there. I was not watching over a Death Note or searching for one, so I had no reason to be there according to the rules. I was with you then, but you couldn't see me. Then taking the shortcut through this world, that must have been the last drop for the king. We're not supposed to bring humans here, especially live humans," Traizo explained.

Shortcuts brought you bad luck it would seem. "It's because of me. You broke the rules for me and this is the result."

"I didn't tell you I was breaking the rules. It's not your fault. Don't worry I don't think they'll hurt you. I have a pretty clear idea why they brought you here. When it's over you'll be returned to the human world. That will be my last wish."

"Last wish?" You certainly didn't like that sound of that.

"You'll be alright so don't worry," Traizo insisted, but it wasn't working and you just worried more.

"I'm not worrying about myself. You just said that you would have your last wish. Are they going to kill you?" You knew you wouldn't like the answer.

"In the human world a shinigami cannot be injured. Here in our world it is possible if attacked by another shinigami. Still, a shinigami won't die even then, unless the life span of that shinigami runs out. There's only one way to kill a shinigami. When I save you, I would be technically extending your life since you would have been killed otherwise. A shinigami exists to take lives not extend them. I'll die then unless we can escape from here, but it's not very likely. Besides you'll be in danger if I don't go along with their plan."

"I don't want you to die." You've only known Traizo for a relatively short time and just when you were truly becoming good friends, he was going to die to save you.

"It's alright, it's better this way. Relationships between shinigami and humans rarely work out. I've been in pain for a long time. I get to rest now," Traizo sounded sad yet determined, as if he had fully accepted his tragic fate.

It broke your heart to hear it. Traizo was willing to die for you and was okay with it just so that he wouldn't have to be heartbroken. You couldn't change this, you couldn't stop him, you felt so helpless.

After about half an hour had passed, several large shinigami came. Two of them, apparently twins, were covered in red fur that looked like it was burning. A few patches were missing revealing bones and one arm was almost completely in the skeleton. It was the left arm for one of them and the right for the other. Their golden eyes were such bright lights it was hard to look directly at them. The third shinigami was more insect-like and didn't look quite as confident as the first two. He seemed to be muttering to himself about needing to find something and not having time to for this, but being obligated to follow orders.

The first two forced Traizo to go with them. He opposed no resistance; he knew they would hurt you if he did. The insect-like shinigami then spoke to you. "Human, I am Shidou, I was assigned to take you to the place of the trial so please don't make it difficult, alright?" It was almost as if he was a little frightened by humans.

You looked towards Traizo and began to walk. While you waited, you insisted over and over that the two of you should escape. He refused, it seems that all he wanted after all was for you to meet him then he would die in peace.

You were taken to the ruins of a large building made of white stone. Most of the ceiling was gone and only parts of the damaged old walls were left standing. Many shinigami were gathered there watching you closely. The ruins were filled with the murmurs of the shinigami talking about what was about to happen. Then suddenly, the entire place fell silent as another shinigami arrived.

You couldn't see his appearance completely because he was covered by a long black cloak. He carried a scythe, which he set aside beside the throne when he sat down. Another shinigami brought him a document in yellowed paper torn at the sides. You could see his hands were made of only bones when he held the paper. Though his face was covered in the shadows of the cloak you could faintly see a skull.

End of Note II

Disclaimer, I don't own Death Note.