Crossover!
In the spirit of "weird stories being written by Just", I present a Death Note/Inuyasha Crossover.
Title: Rewind
Fandoms: Death Note/ Inuyasha
Rating: Any Age-ish
Summary: If first you don't succeed, try try again.
A Note About Spoilers/Timeline: For IY, this is assuming the Inuyasha saga began in 1997 (when it first began publishing), that was Kagome's 15th birthday, and the entire spectacular voyage was about 1 year (there's no friggin timeline in IY). For Death Note, consider it as spoilers all the way through to the end. However, this is anime based, thus beginning in 2007, and largely a timeline deviation between episodes 9 & 10, assumably in 2008. So, adding everything together with my awesomely bad math skills, that would be 11 years after the start of Kagome's journey making her 26.
Author's Plea: I'm bored at work. Can you tell? Also, my cursed endings are back in full force. Also, choppy and random.
Rewind
astarvingwriter
Standard Disclaimer Applies x2
*
"Ryuk. You've made a mess."
Whatever he'd been expecting upon his return to the shinigami realm, it wasn't such a greeting.
"Eh?"
"A girl has died before her scheduled time despite being on no known Death Note. The causality was traced to your interference."
"I didn't interfere."
"Your presence and that of the dropped Death Note are what caused this girl to die prior to her time."
"I followed the rules. I killed the one, and he killed the rest."
"Yes, the human died, but as did others who were needed alive. Someone killed during that time was supposed to save the girl."
"You didn't say nothing about a girl."
The being paused and sighed. It looked around, but the scenery in the shinigami realm was nothing to appreciate.
"There's nothing for it."
"What?"
"We must go back. Redo everything."
"But…"
"I know the consequences, Ryuk. I know them better than you. All those who died will know on some level that they have made choices leading to their demise. Perhaps this feeling of theirs will assist us. The correct causality must be restored."
The being closed its eyes as a look of supreme concentration crossed its features.
"Get in place, Ryuk. We cannot start over entirely, but we can go as far as we must. Be prepared. This time don't waste your time playing," it said without opening its eyes. "If you get bored, consider that the miko can see you."
With more haste than he'd ever exhibited before (but which still wasn't very fast), Ryuk fell back into the portal to the human realm. Rewinding took a lot out of the Old Man, so he was bound to be vengeful if the situation went sour. He got into his appropriate place, phasing out his then-self while preparing for an entirely new game.
He laughed as the stopped world began again, and everyone took a deep breath. Those who had been brought back from whatever realms they had been doomed to looked around with fresh eyes.
In the Wammy House, Nate River paused and then smiled as he put the next domino two centimeters to the right of where he'd originally planned. A few rooms down, Mihael Keehl decided he really did want Matt's input on the look of his new patent leather gloves.
In the temporary Kira investigation headquarters, L paused with his sweet laden spoon still inches from his mouth while Yagami Soichiro felt a dozen phantom pains covering his back and hesitantly reached up to rub his eyes. Watari held his breath as his finger clicked a phantom button.
In an apartment covered in the trappings of flamboyant youth, Amane Misa rolled over and decided to wake up and do her shopping before nightfall.
In a classroom at To-Oh University, Yagami Light blinked away his sudden mental clarity.
Several blocks away, in an apartment within walking distance to her family's shrine, Higurashi Kagome sat up with a start.
"Kami," she whispered. "Not again."
*
Ryuk was different. The shinigami had accompanied him to class only to fall silent and oddly introspective right after the lecture began.
It wasn't normal.
The whole day didn't seem normal anymore. For an instant he'd felt suddenly cold, as if iced water had suddenly worked its way into his bloodstream. Knowing the biological function that caused this gave him no comfort. Instead he felt a haunting sense of deja-vu.
Something had changed. Something was different. As he put his notebook (a perfectly safe notebook with a blue cover) away into his bag, he resolved to find out exactly what had happened.
After all, he was building a new world. It wouldn't do to be surprised into failure before he'd even really begun.
*
She didn't want to go. She really didn't. It wasn't even close to time for any of her classes of the day.
But she had this feeling, this indescribable itch that she needed to be on campus. Kagome had enough practice in otherworldly encounters to believe indescribable itches when they occurred. It was best, she decided, to allow herself to be led. Inevitably it would only cause trouble if she didn't. Alternatively, it would probably only cause trouble if she did, but that was an argument with herself she didn't feel like having.
If anything, she was a bit relieved. Almost eleven years after her introduction to another life, and ten years since the well closed, she had done her best to fit in with a modern world free of adventure only to find it, and herself, lacking. She'd struggled through the remainder of high school, managed enough to get into a lower end university and then worked as hard as humanly possible up to admittance into To-Oh University where she was now starting her last semester before she received her graduate degree.
And now that she was reaching the end of this academic struggle, when she was floundering on what exactly she would do next, she was provided with this indescribable itch that was surely a precursor of interesting things to come.
She was excited even as she dragged her tired body off the bus and onto the campus. She didn't want to be here, but she needed to, in more ways than one.
And she knew exactly why she needed to be there the instant she saw the monstrous shinigami walking nonchalantly through the crowd.
*
He was accustomed to stares. He was accustomed to all sorts of stares. With his posture and strange aura, he was perhaps more accustomed to stares than most.
But this woman… this woman wasn't staring at him. In actuality, this woman wasn't staring at anything. Or, rather, she was staring at some indefinable something that resided within a blank spot of air. She occasionally seemed to converse with it.
L tilted his head.
She didn't have any earphones in, nor did it look like she had a headset or radio. She was just conversing with air.
And then she laughed.
It was a full body laugh, and it almost looked like she was going into convulsions. The happy lines on her face and the pure joy she responded with spoke otherwise. Whatever the air had just said was apparently very humorous.
"Ryuga."
"Yagami-kun."
The young man who'd joined him was as cool headed as ever. For a second, L thought he'd tensed upon seeing where his attention was focused, but Light wasn't one to tense. He catalogued the response all the same but pushed the information away. Right now there were more interesting things to decipher.
"She likes talking to air," he said blandly.
"Apparently so," Light agreed similarly.
"It might mean something."
"You don't even know who she is."
"It might still mean something."
The men were quiet as they continued staring at the woman. Suddenly, as if her invisible counterpart had alerted her to the presence of her watchers, she shifted her attention to the two young men. With a classic look of surprise and fear, she said one last word to her invisible friend before she turned on heel and was gone before L could even begin to think about tracking her.
"That… was interesting."
"Ryuga, that was a bit of an understatement."
*
"Ryuk, you jerk!"
"Miko, you are interesting."
"You just let me blabber on like a crazy person? It's been so long since I've seen anything like this that I just completely forgot how it had to look to other people. What will those two guys think?"
"The one will think you are interesting."
"And the other?"
"He'll think you're a killer."
*
She wasn't hard to locate. Using different means, both Light and L managed to find her name and address. They'd shown up on her doorstep at the same time, looking for all the world like dueling suitors. When she opened the door on the third knock, she didn't seem surprised to see them. Instead she'd led them both inside her tiny, slightly messy apartment and waited for one of them to get to the point.
Then it was just a matter of deciding what to say to the woman. After all, they both had different motives for speaking with her, though neither would admit to it.
Deciding to spare her small room the burdensome occupancy and retreat to familiar ground, Light suggested she accompany him to a coffee shop. L remained silent.
Oddly enough, she would only meet with either if the other was present. Light wondered if she was perhaps protecting herself. L had many layered suspicions.
They walked to the restaurant and she found herself seated across from two sets of inquisitive eyes.
"Okay," she said with a deep breath. "Which one of you thinks I'm interesting and which one thinks I'm a killer?"
*
"You aren't Kira."
She blinked.
"Well, that's a relief," she said blankly giving the two young men a nervous laugh. "And here I was so worried that I was."
"You aren't Kira," the strange man said again. She wondered how anyone could hold such a wide-eyed expression for so long without blinking. "But you are connected to him."
"I assure you, I'm not connected to anyone. I'm completing a thesis in preparation for my graduate degree. I don't have time for sleep, let alone connections."
The strange one did not respond. He still didn't blink. He simply stared at her before bringing a forkful of cake to his mouth.
The other one seemed to be dissecting her with a friendly smile. She quirked her eyebrow in retaliation before looking at the shinigami crouched behind him.
"Ah. I see now," she whispered. Both men still heard her perfectly well. The strange one seemed to instantly pay even more attention while the normal one was surrounded with a rather intense aura. She thought perhaps the pasted on smile was even scarier than the strange one's unblinking eyes.
"What have you become involved in, Kagome?" she said to herself before grinning broadly at her two interrogators. "Ask your questions already! I still have more research to do today before the archives in the library close."
*
"This is difficult."
"Why don't ya just kill her?"
"I can't. She's a suspect in the Kira investigation. If she dies after I've met her, it'll put even more suspicion on me." Light paused and looked Ryuk solidly in the eyes.
"Besides, she can see you without touching my Death Note. She might prove useful."
Ryuk only laughed. This might not be what the Old Man had in mind to keep the girl safe, but it was certainly more interesting.
*
"Ryuga, have you spoken to Higurashi today?"
"Not yet. She's being detained," L responded without stopping. He didn't like being at the university. He only continued to attend in the hopes that his primary subject would let something slip. It wasn't likely, but every route had to be taken to win this.
"Detained?"
"I ordered her arrest."
L kept walking even when Light hesitated.
"I thought you had cleared her of being Kira," the younger man said after a beat.
"She isn't Kira, but she knows something."
"A bold move for someone who isn't a suspect."
L did stop then. There was something in Light's tone that gave him pause.
"I do what I must to solve the case. Kira will be stopped." He continued walking towards the waiting Watari, noting that Light was still following a step behind.
"Besides," he said blandly. "Higurashi-san is innocent. Whatever she knows, she is not guilty. She will not protect a killer."
And without another word, he climbed into the waiting car. With a glance out the tinted window, he could see Light watching closely, a blank expression on his face.
*
She gingerly sipped the tea without comment.
She'd done a lot of things without comment while under confinement.
"Higurashi-san, you can return to your thesis when you tell us what you know about Kira," L's mechanized voice projected into the room.
She sipped her tea again. After all, there was nothing she could tell them about Kira. Besides, of all her kidnappings, this was by far the most comfortable.
"Higurashi-san, you've been seen having conversations with empty air."
"Shows what you know," she said pointedly before taking another sip of tea.
"Then explain."
"It won't do any good. You'll just think I'm crazy."
The mechanized voice was silent for several long moments. She took another sip of tea before turning her attention to the visiting shinigami. Not daring to acknowledge him properly, she merely blinked to let him know she wanted to hear what he had to say.
A few quiet, tea-sipping minutes later, she turned her attention back to where she knew one of the cameras was located.
"At the very least, can you stop with the mechanized voice? It's creepy. I already know you're behind this, Hideki-san. And I already know you're that weird detective L."
She refilled her teacup in silence.
"Don't be surprised. It's not like you're hiding it very well. Fake names are tacky. How many do you have?" she wondered. "Did you have to choose the name of a celebrity? Or was that on purpose? Was it protection from this Kira person?"
She took another sip. She'd been taking sips for two days. She was growing sick of only tea to drink, but there wasn't anything else available.
"If I'm going to be stuck here much longer, can you at least get me something more to drink?"
"You may leave when you have told us what you know," the speakers projected. Kagome grinned. The mechanized voice was gone, replaced with the one she remembered from her informal interrogation at the coffee shop. Ryuk had confirmed her suspicions nicely.
"You want to know? Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you. And no locking me up anymore. I'm not crazy."
"That greatly depends on the information you provide, Higurashi-san."
"That's as good a reassurance as I'm going to get, isn't it? Fine. I'm a miko. I don't practice or do any miko things, but I do have spiritual power unlike most mikos these days. Anyway, probably because I'm a miko, I can see things normal people can't. I can see ghosts and spirits. I can see that one of the officers that arrested me is at least a quarter youkai, probably fox. I can even occasionally see shinigami. And that is who I was talking to that one day you and Yagami-san saw me."
Finished with her explanation, she waited for the voice to say something.
"You spoke with a shinigami."
"Yes."
"A shinigami."
"He's right here if you want to ask him anything," she said with a grin.
The voice was silent. She reached for her tea for another sip.
"Does the shinigami eat apples?" the voice finally asked.
She turned her gaze to Ryuk who was practically falling down with the possibility of getting an apple.
"Judging by the drool, I'd say he's particularly fond of them."
*
He hadn't known she had been released.
That bothered him. He'd been keeping fairly well up-to-date with the progress of L's investigation, but he hadn't even heard a peep about them releasing the Higurashi woman from police custody. He'd known nothing until she'd shown up on his family's doorstep.
"Yagami-san," she said politely in greeting.
"Higurashi-san," he replied in a similar tone. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I need to speak with you. In private."
The insistence in her voice sounded just enough like a proposition to cause his sister, eavesdropping from the kitchen door, to fall into an embarrassed heap. He allowed a small smile as was appropriate for the scene and led the woman up to his room. Not until he'd locked the door and she'd taken a seat on his only chair did he let some of his pretenses drop. He was still considering exactly how to work the uncomfortable situation to his advantage when she took control right out of his hands.
"Ryuk is a very interesting shinigami. He doesn't say much, but he does let me extrapolate quite a bit. I didn't know about Death Notes at all until he explained his own."
Light tightened his expression. The woman knew, but what exactly she was going to do with that knowledge was something else entirely. Just the fact that she'd come to him before the police and before L said quite a bit.
"So, knowing how Ryuk's Death Note works, knowing Ryuk follows you around like a particularly bored puppy, and the detective asking me if Ryuk likes apples… knowing all of that I can only assume that you are much more complicated than I ever would have expected. And have a god complex."
Light further tightened his expression but otherwise said nothing. After all, she could be wired.
"Now," the woman continued. "That also tells me that you've taken quite a few lives. The detectives were kind enough to spare me a total figure. I think I'd prefer ignorance in this case especially considering what I'm about to do."
He perked up at that mention but otherwise remained silent.
"Everyone deserves a second change, ne? Of course you probably don't think that considering your actions since acquiring the Death Note, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. So, I'll give you this chance to save yourself. You'd be smart to consider it. Give up ownership of your Death Note. Give it back to Ryuk. You'll forget everything, the killings will stop, and the investigation will eventually cease. Regardless, they can't prove anything against you at this time. So agree and save yourself."
"You are interesting, Higurashi-san. If I am Kira, as you accuse, why would I agree to such a request? Why should I agree?"
"Why would you? I thought that much was obvious: to stop murdering people who could very well be innocent, to keep yourself from eventually being caught, to save your soul. Would should you? Because if you don't, I will be forced to take alternate measures to stop you."
"Ah, but Higurashi-san, if I am Kira, I could very well kill you before you had the opportunity."
"You can't. We both know it would only further the case against you, not to mention I'm pretty difficult to kill. I've already been dead a half dozen times, and I'm already a reincarnation. I doubt you'd succeed even if you were tempted to try. Don't make me force the issue."
There was a definite hard glint in her eyes now that Light knew all too well. She wasn't going to back down. She was making a personal stand. He still wasn't sure what all information she'd provided to L during her captivity, she was right about the fact that killing her would be particularly difficult, and there were all sorts of unknowns thrown into the equation. There were far too many variables.
And Ryuk was laughing again, a particularly vindictive chuckle perhaps at the woman's audacity or Light's awkwardness.
"She's an interesting one, Light. What are ya going to do?"
*
She wasn't happy.
He hadn't agreed to turn over the Death Note automatically. Instead, he'd wanted a day to think it over. In her experience, people who wanted time to think something over usually had a plan up their sleeve.
She hoped he didn't kill her. He would be well tempted, that was for sure. He would also be tempted to kill her family in order to shut her up, but he would be foolish if he assumed it would work. Surely he'd read her well enough to know that.
There was little doubt that he'd give up the Death Note in the end. He was smart enough to know when he was trapped. However, she knew, she absolutely knew he'd do something to screw it up.
*
L watched her leave the Yagami home with more than a bit of suspicion.
If anything, the Higurashi woman and her apple-crunching shinigami had added more certainty onto his suspicion of Yagami Light, but there was not enough to arrest him. Despite how amazing it was, he doubted the court would take a disappearing apple as evidence of Yagami-kun's guilt.
Now he only needed something a bit more concrete. He needed real proof.
It didn't help that Higurashi-san's motives were also questionable. She was a strange woman. She had a very well developed sense of justice, but it was not like his own and nothing like Kira's. At the same time, she told him nothing of her own suspicions though it was obvious she had some. He'd had Watari follow her just so he could have a better idea of her thoughts on whom Kira was.
He couldn't say he was surprised that she'd gone to Yagami-san's home.
*
Ryuk couldn't decide who to focus his attention on. Both the miko and the boy were tense in an ‘I'm pretending not to be tense' way. Both were trying to silently threaten the other.
"You are foolish if you think this will end it," he stated seriously.
"You're just a fool," she replied flippantly. "Leave the godliness to the actual gods."
"Kira's work will continue."
"I don't doubt that. I also don't doubt that you've set some plan in motion and that you've written quite a bit about my impending death in that book. Still… I've never known a single person who referred to himself in the third person to be capable of killing me."
"Then I will surpass them."
She just grinned slightly. It was an all-knowing grin that bespoke of much experience and more than a bit of assurance.
"Give me the Death Note first," she ordered softly.
Light's hesitation was minimal but still present. After all, he hadn't given up his possession of it yet, not technically.
Once she had hold of it, she immediately flipped through the pages to find everything he had written since she'd spoke with him the night before. Sure enough, her name and those of her family were written. They were set to die in a little over two weeks from a fire set by Souta. Without thought or even intention, the hand she passed over the ink glowed pink and the words turned to dust. With a happier smile, she passed her hand over all the names with deaths scheduled in the coming weeks, watching as they all blew away into the wind.
"There are some pluses to being a miko," she stated quietly. With a lighter spirit, she handed the notebook back to Light who gripped it angrily before giving it to Ryuk.
"I release ownership of this Death Note," he said blankly. Ryuk chuckled. The miko smiled brightly. Light blinked before looking questioningly at Kagome.
"Higurashi-san?"
"I know you're angry at me, Yagami-kun, but I'll buy you some coffee to make it up, hm? Then I can get back to my research. This Kira business is too much work!"
And with a wink at Ryuk, she led the newly innocent boy away.
*
L re-watched the tape. It had taken quite a bit of work for Watari to get the footage of the Higurashi woman and Yagami-san's strange meeting, but it had been worth it.
Not that the video meant anything to anyone else. There wasn't even any sound.
Though he had his own theory of what exactly was said and occurred at the park, and though he was sure his original suspicions of Kira's identity were correct, especially after the killings stopped, there was nothing he could do now.
He thought perhaps the Higurashi woman had meant for that to happen.
Regardless, he'd keep an eye on both of them in the future. If Light really was Kira, he would have undoubtedly prepared a backup plan. He would undoubtedly find a way to resume his killings in the future.
It was only a matter of when.
*
Title: Rewind
Fandoms: Death Note/ Inuyasha
Rating: Any Age-ish
Summary: If first you don't succeed, try try again.
A Note About Spoilers/Timeline: For IY, this is assuming the Inuyasha saga began in 1997 (when it first began publishing), that was Kagome's 15th birthday, and the entire spectacular voyage was about 1 year (there's no friggin timeline in IY). For Death Note, consider it as spoilers all the way through to the end. However, this is anime based, thus beginning in 2007, and largely a timeline deviation between episodes 9 & 10, assumably in 2008. So, adding everything together with my awesomely bad math skills, that would be 11 years after the start of Kagome's journey making her 26.
Author's Plea: I'm bored at work. Can you tell? Also, my cursed endings are back in full force. Also, choppy and random.
Rewind
astarvingwriter
Standard Disclaimer Applies x2
*
"Ryuk. You've made a mess."
Whatever he'd been expecting upon his return to the shinigami realm, it wasn't such a greeting.
"Eh?"
"A girl has died before her scheduled time despite being on no known Death Note. The causality was traced to your interference."
"I didn't interfere."
"Your presence and that of the dropped Death Note are what caused this girl to die prior to her time."
"I followed the rules. I killed the one, and he killed the rest."
"Yes, the human died, but as did others who were needed alive. Someone killed during that time was supposed to save the girl."
"You didn't say nothing about a girl."
The being paused and sighed. It looked around, but the scenery in the shinigami realm was nothing to appreciate.
"There's nothing for it."
"What?"
"We must go back. Redo everything."
"But…"
"I know the consequences, Ryuk. I know them better than you. All those who died will know on some level that they have made choices leading to their demise. Perhaps this feeling of theirs will assist us. The correct causality must be restored."
The being closed its eyes as a look of supreme concentration crossed its features.
"Get in place, Ryuk. We cannot start over entirely, but we can go as far as we must. Be prepared. This time don't waste your time playing," it said without opening its eyes. "If you get bored, consider that the miko can see you."
With more haste than he'd ever exhibited before (but which still wasn't very fast), Ryuk fell back into the portal to the human realm. Rewinding took a lot out of the Old Man, so he was bound to be vengeful if the situation went sour. He got into his appropriate place, phasing out his then-self while preparing for an entirely new game.
He laughed as the stopped world began again, and everyone took a deep breath. Those who had been brought back from whatever realms they had been doomed to looked around with fresh eyes.
In the Wammy House, Nate River paused and then smiled as he put the next domino two centimeters to the right of where he'd originally planned. A few rooms down, Mihael Keehl decided he really did want Matt's input on the look of his new patent leather gloves.
In the temporary Kira investigation headquarters, L paused with his sweet laden spoon still inches from his mouth while Yagami Soichiro felt a dozen phantom pains covering his back and hesitantly reached up to rub his eyes. Watari held his breath as his finger clicked a phantom button.
In an apartment covered in the trappings of flamboyant youth, Amane Misa rolled over and decided to wake up and do her shopping before nightfall.
In a classroom at To-Oh University, Yagami Light blinked away his sudden mental clarity.
Several blocks away, in an apartment within walking distance to her family's shrine, Higurashi Kagome sat up with a start.
"Kami," she whispered. "Not again."
*
Ryuk was different. The shinigami had accompanied him to class only to fall silent and oddly introspective right after the lecture began.
It wasn't normal.
The whole day didn't seem normal anymore. For an instant he'd felt suddenly cold, as if iced water had suddenly worked its way into his bloodstream. Knowing the biological function that caused this gave him no comfort. Instead he felt a haunting sense of deja-vu.
Something had changed. Something was different. As he put his notebook (a perfectly safe notebook with a blue cover) away into his bag, he resolved to find out exactly what had happened.
After all, he was building a new world. It wouldn't do to be surprised into failure before he'd even really begun.
*
She didn't want to go. She really didn't. It wasn't even close to time for any of her classes of the day.
But she had this feeling, this indescribable itch that she needed to be on campus. Kagome had enough practice in otherworldly encounters to believe indescribable itches when they occurred. It was best, she decided, to allow herself to be led. Inevitably it would only cause trouble if she didn't. Alternatively, it would probably only cause trouble if she did, but that was an argument with herself she didn't feel like having.
If anything, she was a bit relieved. Almost eleven years after her introduction to another life, and ten years since the well closed, she had done her best to fit in with a modern world free of adventure only to find it, and herself, lacking. She'd struggled through the remainder of high school, managed enough to get into a lower end university and then worked as hard as humanly possible up to admittance into To-Oh University where she was now starting her last semester before she received her graduate degree.
And now that she was reaching the end of this academic struggle, when she was floundering on what exactly she would do next, she was provided with this indescribable itch that was surely a precursor of interesting things to come.
She was excited even as she dragged her tired body off the bus and onto the campus. She didn't want to be here, but she needed to, in more ways than one.
And she knew exactly why she needed to be there the instant she saw the monstrous shinigami walking nonchalantly through the crowd.
*
He was accustomed to stares. He was accustomed to all sorts of stares. With his posture and strange aura, he was perhaps more accustomed to stares than most.
But this woman… this woman wasn't staring at him. In actuality, this woman wasn't staring at anything. Or, rather, she was staring at some indefinable something that resided within a blank spot of air. She occasionally seemed to converse with it.
L tilted his head.
She didn't have any earphones in, nor did it look like she had a headset or radio. She was just conversing with air.
And then she laughed.
It was a full body laugh, and it almost looked like she was going into convulsions. The happy lines on her face and the pure joy she responded with spoke otherwise. Whatever the air had just said was apparently very humorous.
"Ryuga."
"Yagami-kun."
The young man who'd joined him was as cool headed as ever. For a second, L thought he'd tensed upon seeing where his attention was focused, but Light wasn't one to tense. He catalogued the response all the same but pushed the information away. Right now there were more interesting things to decipher.
"She likes talking to air," he said blandly.
"Apparently so," Light agreed similarly.
"It might mean something."
"You don't even know who she is."
"It might still mean something."
The men were quiet as they continued staring at the woman. Suddenly, as if her invisible counterpart had alerted her to the presence of her watchers, she shifted her attention to the two young men. With a classic look of surprise and fear, she said one last word to her invisible friend before she turned on heel and was gone before L could even begin to think about tracking her.
"That… was interesting."
"Ryuga, that was a bit of an understatement."
*
"Ryuk, you jerk!"
"Miko, you are interesting."
"You just let me blabber on like a crazy person? It's been so long since I've seen anything like this that I just completely forgot how it had to look to other people. What will those two guys think?"
"The one will think you are interesting."
"And the other?"
"He'll think you're a killer."
*
She wasn't hard to locate. Using different means, both Light and L managed to find her name and address. They'd shown up on her doorstep at the same time, looking for all the world like dueling suitors. When she opened the door on the third knock, she didn't seem surprised to see them. Instead she'd led them both inside her tiny, slightly messy apartment and waited for one of them to get to the point.
Then it was just a matter of deciding what to say to the woman. After all, they both had different motives for speaking with her, though neither would admit to it.
Deciding to spare her small room the burdensome occupancy and retreat to familiar ground, Light suggested she accompany him to a coffee shop. L remained silent.
Oddly enough, she would only meet with either if the other was present. Light wondered if she was perhaps protecting herself. L had many layered suspicions.
They walked to the restaurant and she found herself seated across from two sets of inquisitive eyes.
"Okay," she said with a deep breath. "Which one of you thinks I'm interesting and which one thinks I'm a killer?"
*
"You aren't Kira."
She blinked.
"Well, that's a relief," she said blankly giving the two young men a nervous laugh. "And here I was so worried that I was."
"You aren't Kira," the strange man said again. She wondered how anyone could hold such a wide-eyed expression for so long without blinking. "But you are connected to him."
"I assure you, I'm not connected to anyone. I'm completing a thesis in preparation for my graduate degree. I don't have time for sleep, let alone connections."
The strange one did not respond. He still didn't blink. He simply stared at her before bringing a forkful of cake to his mouth.
The other one seemed to be dissecting her with a friendly smile. She quirked her eyebrow in retaliation before looking at the shinigami crouched behind him.
"Ah. I see now," she whispered. Both men still heard her perfectly well. The strange one seemed to instantly pay even more attention while the normal one was surrounded with a rather intense aura. She thought perhaps the pasted on smile was even scarier than the strange one's unblinking eyes.
"What have you become involved in, Kagome?" she said to herself before grinning broadly at her two interrogators. "Ask your questions already! I still have more research to do today before the archives in the library close."
*
"This is difficult."
"Why don't ya just kill her?"
"I can't. She's a suspect in the Kira investigation. If she dies after I've met her, it'll put even more suspicion on me." Light paused and looked Ryuk solidly in the eyes.
"Besides, she can see you without touching my Death Note. She might prove useful."
Ryuk only laughed. This might not be what the Old Man had in mind to keep the girl safe, but it was certainly more interesting.
*
"Ryuga, have you spoken to Higurashi today?"
"Not yet. She's being detained," L responded without stopping. He didn't like being at the university. He only continued to attend in the hopes that his primary subject would let something slip. It wasn't likely, but every route had to be taken to win this.
"Detained?"
"I ordered her arrest."
L kept walking even when Light hesitated.
"I thought you had cleared her of being Kira," the younger man said after a beat.
"She isn't Kira, but she knows something."
"A bold move for someone who isn't a suspect."
L did stop then. There was something in Light's tone that gave him pause.
"I do what I must to solve the case. Kira will be stopped." He continued walking towards the waiting Watari, noting that Light was still following a step behind.
"Besides," he said blandly. "Higurashi-san is innocent. Whatever she knows, she is not guilty. She will not protect a killer."
And without another word, he climbed into the waiting car. With a glance out the tinted window, he could see Light watching closely, a blank expression on his face.
*
She gingerly sipped the tea without comment.
She'd done a lot of things without comment while under confinement.
"Higurashi-san, you can return to your thesis when you tell us what you know about Kira," L's mechanized voice projected into the room.
She sipped her tea again. After all, there was nothing she could tell them about Kira. Besides, of all her kidnappings, this was by far the most comfortable.
"Higurashi-san, you've been seen having conversations with empty air."
"Shows what you know," she said pointedly before taking another sip of tea.
"Then explain."
"It won't do any good. You'll just think I'm crazy."
The mechanized voice was silent for several long moments. She took another sip of tea before turning her attention to the visiting shinigami. Not daring to acknowledge him properly, she merely blinked to let him know she wanted to hear what he had to say.
A few quiet, tea-sipping minutes later, she turned her attention back to where she knew one of the cameras was located.
"At the very least, can you stop with the mechanized voice? It's creepy. I already know you're behind this, Hideki-san. And I already know you're that weird detective L."
She refilled her teacup in silence.
"Don't be surprised. It's not like you're hiding it very well. Fake names are tacky. How many do you have?" she wondered. "Did you have to choose the name of a celebrity? Or was that on purpose? Was it protection from this Kira person?"
She took another sip. She'd been taking sips for two days. She was growing sick of only tea to drink, but there wasn't anything else available.
"If I'm going to be stuck here much longer, can you at least get me something more to drink?"
"You may leave when you have told us what you know," the speakers projected. Kagome grinned. The mechanized voice was gone, replaced with the one she remembered from her informal interrogation at the coffee shop. Ryuk had confirmed her suspicions nicely.
"You want to know? Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you. And no locking me up anymore. I'm not crazy."
"That greatly depends on the information you provide, Higurashi-san."
"That's as good a reassurance as I'm going to get, isn't it? Fine. I'm a miko. I don't practice or do any miko things, but I do have spiritual power unlike most mikos these days. Anyway, probably because I'm a miko, I can see things normal people can't. I can see ghosts and spirits. I can see that one of the officers that arrested me is at least a quarter youkai, probably fox. I can even occasionally see shinigami. And that is who I was talking to that one day you and Yagami-san saw me."
Finished with her explanation, she waited for the voice to say something.
"You spoke with a shinigami."
"Yes."
"A shinigami."
"He's right here if you want to ask him anything," she said with a grin.
The voice was silent. She reached for her tea for another sip.
"Does the shinigami eat apples?" the voice finally asked.
She turned her gaze to Ryuk who was practically falling down with the possibility of getting an apple.
"Judging by the drool, I'd say he's particularly fond of them."
*
He hadn't known she had been released.
That bothered him. He'd been keeping fairly well up-to-date with the progress of L's investigation, but he hadn't even heard a peep about them releasing the Higurashi woman from police custody. He'd known nothing until she'd shown up on his family's doorstep.
"Yagami-san," she said politely in greeting.
"Higurashi-san," he replied in a similar tone. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"I need to speak with you. In private."
The insistence in her voice sounded just enough like a proposition to cause his sister, eavesdropping from the kitchen door, to fall into an embarrassed heap. He allowed a small smile as was appropriate for the scene and led the woman up to his room. Not until he'd locked the door and she'd taken a seat on his only chair did he let some of his pretenses drop. He was still considering exactly how to work the uncomfortable situation to his advantage when she took control right out of his hands.
"Ryuk is a very interesting shinigami. He doesn't say much, but he does let me extrapolate quite a bit. I didn't know about Death Notes at all until he explained his own."
Light tightened his expression. The woman knew, but what exactly she was going to do with that knowledge was something else entirely. Just the fact that she'd come to him before the police and before L said quite a bit.
"So, knowing how Ryuk's Death Note works, knowing Ryuk follows you around like a particularly bored puppy, and the detective asking me if Ryuk likes apples… knowing all of that I can only assume that you are much more complicated than I ever would have expected. And have a god complex."
Light further tightened his expression but otherwise said nothing. After all, she could be wired.
"Now," the woman continued. "That also tells me that you've taken quite a few lives. The detectives were kind enough to spare me a total figure. I think I'd prefer ignorance in this case especially considering what I'm about to do."
He perked up at that mention but otherwise remained silent.
"Everyone deserves a second change, ne? Of course you probably don't think that considering your actions since acquiring the Death Note, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. So, I'll give you this chance to save yourself. You'd be smart to consider it. Give up ownership of your Death Note. Give it back to Ryuk. You'll forget everything, the killings will stop, and the investigation will eventually cease. Regardless, they can't prove anything against you at this time. So agree and save yourself."
"You are interesting, Higurashi-san. If I am Kira, as you accuse, why would I agree to such a request? Why should I agree?"
"Why would you? I thought that much was obvious: to stop murdering people who could very well be innocent, to keep yourself from eventually being caught, to save your soul. Would should you? Because if you don't, I will be forced to take alternate measures to stop you."
"Ah, but Higurashi-san, if I am Kira, I could very well kill you before you had the opportunity."
"You can't. We both know it would only further the case against you, not to mention I'm pretty difficult to kill. I've already been dead a half dozen times, and I'm already a reincarnation. I doubt you'd succeed even if you were tempted to try. Don't make me force the issue."
There was a definite hard glint in her eyes now that Light knew all too well. She wasn't going to back down. She was making a personal stand. He still wasn't sure what all information she'd provided to L during her captivity, she was right about the fact that killing her would be particularly difficult, and there were all sorts of unknowns thrown into the equation. There were far too many variables.
And Ryuk was laughing again, a particularly vindictive chuckle perhaps at the woman's audacity or Light's awkwardness.
"She's an interesting one, Light. What are ya going to do?"
*
She wasn't happy.
He hadn't agreed to turn over the Death Note automatically. Instead, he'd wanted a day to think it over. In her experience, people who wanted time to think something over usually had a plan up their sleeve.
She hoped he didn't kill her. He would be well tempted, that was for sure. He would also be tempted to kill her family in order to shut her up, but he would be foolish if he assumed it would work. Surely he'd read her well enough to know that.
There was little doubt that he'd give up the Death Note in the end. He was smart enough to know when he was trapped. However, she knew, she absolutely knew he'd do something to screw it up.
*
L watched her leave the Yagami home with more than a bit of suspicion.
If anything, the Higurashi woman and her apple-crunching shinigami had added more certainty onto his suspicion of Yagami Light, but there was not enough to arrest him. Despite how amazing it was, he doubted the court would take a disappearing apple as evidence of Yagami-kun's guilt.
Now he only needed something a bit more concrete. He needed real proof.
It didn't help that Higurashi-san's motives were also questionable. She was a strange woman. She had a very well developed sense of justice, but it was not like his own and nothing like Kira's. At the same time, she told him nothing of her own suspicions though it was obvious she had some. He'd had Watari follow her just so he could have a better idea of her thoughts on whom Kira was.
He couldn't say he was surprised that she'd gone to Yagami-san's home.
*
Ryuk couldn't decide who to focus his attention on. Both the miko and the boy were tense in an ‘I'm pretending not to be tense' way. Both were trying to silently threaten the other.
"You are foolish if you think this will end it," he stated seriously.
"You're just a fool," she replied flippantly. "Leave the godliness to the actual gods."
"Kira's work will continue."
"I don't doubt that. I also don't doubt that you've set some plan in motion and that you've written quite a bit about my impending death in that book. Still… I've never known a single person who referred to himself in the third person to be capable of killing me."
"Then I will surpass them."
She just grinned slightly. It was an all-knowing grin that bespoke of much experience and more than a bit of assurance.
"Give me the Death Note first," she ordered softly.
Light's hesitation was minimal but still present. After all, he hadn't given up his possession of it yet, not technically.
Once she had hold of it, she immediately flipped through the pages to find everything he had written since she'd spoke with him the night before. Sure enough, her name and those of her family were written. They were set to die in a little over two weeks from a fire set by Souta. Without thought or even intention, the hand she passed over the ink glowed pink and the words turned to dust. With a happier smile, she passed her hand over all the names with deaths scheduled in the coming weeks, watching as they all blew away into the wind.
"There are some pluses to being a miko," she stated quietly. With a lighter spirit, she handed the notebook back to Light who gripped it angrily before giving it to Ryuk.
"I release ownership of this Death Note," he said blankly. Ryuk chuckled. The miko smiled brightly. Light blinked before looking questioningly at Kagome.
"Higurashi-san?"
"I know you're angry at me, Yagami-kun, but I'll buy you some coffee to make it up, hm? Then I can get back to my research. This Kira business is too much work!"
And with a wink at Ryuk, she led the newly innocent boy away.
*
L re-watched the tape. It had taken quite a bit of work for Watari to get the footage of the Higurashi woman and Yagami-san's strange meeting, but it had been worth it.
Not that the video meant anything to anyone else. There wasn't even any sound.
Though he had his own theory of what exactly was said and occurred at the park, and though he was sure his original suspicions of Kira's identity were correct, especially after the killings stopped, there was nothing he could do now.
He thought perhaps the Higurashi woman had meant for that to happen.
Regardless, he'd keep an eye on both of them in the future. If Light really was Kira, he would have undoubtedly prepared a backup plan. He would undoubtedly find a way to resume his killings in the future.
It was only a matter of when.
*