A pretty face can hide an evil mind

I would very much like to thank you all for your lovely reviews!
Makes me feel like I’m actually good at something :P
To those who didn’t quite figure out the riddle in the last chapter, here’s a little clue.
It revolves around the object mentioned in the same part as the riddle. I won’t spoil it for you though! But I know how frustrating it is when you can’t seem to figure something out. Hence the little clue to help you on your way.

And thanks especially to one certain reviewer who congratulated me on me becoming a detective!

I'm not fully pleased with this chapter though. It might have something to do with the fact that I wrote down several events that will happen later on. A rather steamy scene between our two favourite Death Note characters for one! That and the new Harry Potter book is to be released within a matter of days...

READ! NOTES:
The ringtone mentioned in this fic is downloadable on the net.It’s the very same one from the Japanese horror movie known as ‘One missed call’.

It’s also known as ‘Chakushin Ari’. For those who want to know what it sounds like, check youtube and either search for one missed call or the specific title, One Missed Call (Chakushin ari) Ring Tone.The movie itself is available as well I believe X3
Be careful though! I’m a horror movie fanatic with a passion for yurei movies!

Those who scream/scare easily, don’t bother watching XP (Yurei, imagine movies like the Grudge (Ju-On) or the Ring (Ringu) or Dark Water. Or the videogames known as either Fatal Frame or Project Zero for that matter.) I believed this ringtone to be PERFECT for the story, since it’s cute and creepy at the same time. I mean it’s from a horror movie, it would have to be XD

(You can stop reading here if you want though XD)

As for yurei, I adore those creepy women. Feel free to find out more about them on Wikipedia for example. I do not agree with the information there however. They claim that the long black hair has something to do with the kabuki theatre. This is NOT TRUE. According to several (Japanese) sources, in old-fashioned Japan women were to have long black hair due to characterisation of gender-roles. Short hair was seen as ‘cheap’ and un-womanlike. They were to gracefully wear their hair up. After dying however the hair was let down. Long flowing black hair stands for death. (This same element is used in Kabuki theatre if I’m not mistaken.) This is why yurei are seen wearing white (dead bodies were dressed in white clothing) with long loose black hair. Shame on you wikipedia!

Why my obsession? They represent the power of women in one way I guess. Yurei are often (if not always) represented as females. Generally females who died in a brutal way or still have unfinished business (mostly revenge). They have the power to kill in the most horrifying of ways, men are more often then not unable to stop their powers. Call it a sense of feminism XP

Also, in my profile (if not earlier on in notes) I’ve already stated that I have Asperger Syndrome (Supposedly L has the same disorder, which I wouldn’t be surprised about in the slightest. Since I wouldn’t have to do much but behave naturally, other then dye by hair black and cut it short in order to successfully cosplay, one of my friends is creeped out due to the similarities between us and often corrects my posture because of it XD). Basically put I have trouble with feeling emotions because of it. I for one am a horror fanatic and found myself unable to experience true fear. Until I saw the original version of The Ring when I was younger that is. A friend of mine and yours truly ended up watching it. When the movie was over, we turned off the TV. It turned back on by itself. It nearly gave my friend a heart-attack and I finally got to shiver at something. Yurei just plain give me the creeps, which is a rare sensation I enjoy. What can I say, I’m an oddball.

Enough of my rambling though.

Now enjoy the latest chapter!
“The situation is getting out of hand!”

A pair of large fists hit a desk with a load bang, causing the ground beneath it to tremble.

“We are talking about 100 criminals within a week! 100 lives have been lost and we still don’t have a way to explain the people what’s going on! What are those scientist up to in there?! People don’t just drop dead from a heart attack all of a sudden! Elections are coming up and the people want explanations!”

A rather scruffy looking man with dark bags under his eyes stood up. His hair looked like it either hadn’t been combed in days or like he had pulling it out at random.

“I agree with President Sharpner! No progress has been made whatsoever and people keep dying! My people are in an uproar! The press has been hounding my staff-members and has done nothing but blame the situation on us!”

“Now now, perhaps it’s a good thing. They’re nothing more then criminals after all. Who cares about them? Most of them were on death row to begin with.”

“Who cares about them?! They’re people for Christ’s sake! Criminal or not, you’re talking about living beings here!”

“He’s right! And as far as the scientists go, they’re doing all they can! You can’t expect them to perform miracles overnight!”

“That settles it! Arguing like this won’t solve anything! I think we need to call in a professional…”

“A professional? Whom do you suppose? Erald Coil?”

“No. A situation like this calls for the best of the best. People are dying from heart-attacks all over the globe. I think we need to call on L to solve this one.”

An awkward silence filled the room. The men who had been yelling furiously at one another sat down quietly.

“And you’re sure? That he would be interested in a case like this I mean. I hear he’s not only stubborn but also refuses to take on cases he’s not interested in. Moreover, how do we reach him?”

“Gentlemen!”

All eyes turned to the oddly dressed newcomer. What appeared to be a tall man in a raincoat walked into the room carrying a laptop. The main part of his face was covered with a large hat, a pair of dark-tinted sunglasses and the coats huge collar kept the strangers face from plain view.

“There is no need to worry. L is on the case as we speak. I am Watari. I beg a moment of silence. I now give you the voice of L.”

That being said, the figure known as ‘Watari’ placed the laptop onto the desk in the centre of the hall. Mere moments later the sound equipment was attached and ‘Watari’ took a step back.

“Greetings to everyone at ICPO. This is L.”

The strange modified voice echoed through the entire room. The once blank screen was filled with a glaring white, except for one black letter. The letter L.

“So far this case has proven to be a complicated one. An atrocious and unforgivable mass-murder! In order to solve this case I ask all of you in the ICPO to offer me your complete and total cooperation in solving this case.”
“Raito! You have to admit it’s awesome! Totally creepy but AWESOME! I mean I don’t think I’ve ever watched the news as much as nowadays!”

“Yeah definitely! I guess this means no more misbehaving huh.”

“You said it! I’m actually pretty nervous about the whole shoplifting thing…”

“Ha-hah! Kira’s gonna get you Daiki!”

Raito looked at his two friends. Or rather temporary companions. After people ceased to fascinate him he normally didn’t keep them around unless he still needed them for some purpose. Friendship was far too much of an elusive concept to grasp to begin with.

Friendships were generally fleeting and the word itself used far too freely.

Especially nowadays…

Kira.

It was spreading quickly. The rumour of a dark angel using his divine powers to slay the wicked and bring justice to one and all. What a joke. Kira was nothing more then a mass-murderer. A megalomaniac. Not some divine saviour.

“Well, this is my stop.”

Raito opened the front gate while waving goodbye to his so-called friends.

“Laters Raito!”

“Yeah! See you later!”

Raito took of his shoes and deposited them neatly arranged on the floor near the entrance. He offered a gentle ‘Tadaima’ upon hearing his mothers cheerful ‘Okaerinasai’, he turned in his latest report-card and smiled sweetly when his mother praised him for doing well in school.

“Would you please not bother me? I’m going to study for a while.”

“Sure thing sweetheart! We’re having your favourite tonight!”

“Thanks mom.”

And with a click he had locked his door. After sparing a quick glance at the cell-phone located on his desk – pleased to see that the light indicating a newly received message was not blinking – he reached into a drawer and grabbed what seemed to be a broken pen.

After fumbling with the lock which sealed the top-drawer of his desk shut, he pulled out said drawer and grabbed the piece of the broken pen and pushed it into a tiny nearly invisible hole in the bottom. What seemed to have been a nearly empty drawer – save for his diary – revealed a hidden compartment containing a black notebook.

“Working again today Raito? Aren’t you the diligent one.”

“Whatever you say Ryuuku.”

An odd looking creature seemed to appear out of nowhere. As if it’s blue skin and jagged shark-like teeth weren’t strange enough by itself, the black wings and gravity defying aerial stunts would be quite enough to convince someone that this was not a human being. Ryuuku was indeed a supernatural being known as a shinigami.

-------------------------------------- Several days earlier ------------------------------------------

The notebook was real.

It really only took a persons name and face in order to kill them.

At first glance the notebook hadn’t seemed like much of a threat and he had doubted – upon reading the rules contained within - that the plain looking notebook truly had as much power as it seemed to claim. But one simple test had proven his views on the notebook wrong.

It was real. And he had just killed a man.

Said man was named Shibuimaru Takuo, a creep with a fine taste for beautiful young women apparently. Raito had been walking around town searching for a proper target to test the notebooks power. Shibuimaru Takuo – otherwise known as Shibutaku – had proven to be the perfect test subject. A young woman had been walking down the street minding her own business when a couple of guys suddenly surrounded her with their bikes. The girl was obviously scared, the guy that introduced himself as ‘Cool Taku’ however seemed to revel in it.

What was obviously a bad situation for the girl turned out to be even worse as several of the men took a hold of her and attempted to take of her clothes as ordered by their precious Taku-san. Had those guys simply given up after she said no to their offer of ‘fun’, Raito wouldn’t have bothered. But the situation was amounting to something entirely different then explicit offers.

Raito wrote down the guys name with little hesitation.

Shibuimaru Takuo, Cause of Death: Traffic Accident.

At the time the pen left the paper, the girl managed to get away somehow.

Raito watched as she rushed out to the other side of the road with Shibuimaru hot on her heels. A truck pretty much came out of nowhere and hit Shibuimaru dead on at full speed. It didn’t take a genius to know the guy wasn’t going to walk out of this one.

The blood splattered across the road and the remainings of a bike mixed with what seemed to be mangled human body-parts said enough.

And he had just killed a man…
He wasn’t quite sure how he made it home.

He vaguely remembered throwing up in that dank alleyway, but the rest of it was a blur.

Everything seemed so surreal, it was like living in a dream. No a nightmare where physical laws did not apply.

A buzzing noise and followed by a rather creepy yet childish ringtone brought him back to reality.

The cell-phone on his desk was the source of the racket. The blinking blue light indicating that a new message was received kept flashing as though mocking him.

‘Here I am, the thing that connects him to you…’

Raito got up after combing his fingers through his hair. The action always seemed to calm him down for some reason. He took a hold of the buzzing menace and flipped it open to see what kind of message he had received.

‘Good work. How does it feel? Good enough to keep going I hope. Keep up the good work!’

A simple message that meant little to nothing but at the same time told so much.

He had to keep killing people or else…

Raito tossed the cell-phone back onto the desk, secretly hoping the thing would fall apart. Fortune appeared to be in said device’s favour though as it didn’t even leave as much as a scratch on the cell-phone, but graced his wooden desk with a dent instead.

He could feel the beginning of what would turn out to be a major headache and decided against doing his homework, rather taking a nap instead.

About an hour later one of the most annoying voices he had ever heard attempted to rouse him from his slumber. He groaned as he realised his nap had been cut short and the prevention of the earlier diagnosed headache had not paid of even in the slightest.

“What?!”

“Wow. Aren’t you brave for a human being.”

Wait a second. Human being?

He quickly opened his eyes and turned to the direction of the voice – the action nearly sent him spiralling to the floor but his iron grasp on the sheets upon finding the origin of that voice kept him steady.

There was a monster in his room.

Could today get any better?

“Yo, the name’s Ryuuku and I’m going to be your roomy for a while. Say, you got any apples around here?”

Of course it could. The ‘it’ was a moron.
“So basically put, your name is Ryuuku, you’re a shinigami and you’re here on Kira’s order. Your job is to keep an eye on me and the notebook while offering me guidance.”

“More or less.”

“Then why were you not there the day I received the Death Note?”

“I got bored waiting around.”

His head was pounding.

This most definitely wasn’t his day.

---------------------------------------------- Present Time ------------------------------------------

Raito found himself occupied with watching the news. He would have to kill off some people again tonight, he had been shirking his ‘cleaning chores’ as of late.

Ryuuku – his self-appointed roomy – seemed pre-occupied with the small basket of juicy red apples. The odd creature seemed addicted to those damn things. How any person or shinigami for that matter could be addicted to them was beyond him.

“On further note, Kira saviour or murderer? Regardless, he has struck again, this time in the heart of London. The victim was a former law-practitioner whose career came to a sudden stop after being accused of fraud and embezzlement. The victim collapsed in the middle of the street after a rather successful business meeting that could have revived his place in the spotlight. Scientist still haven’t found an explanation on the mysterious re-occurring deaths of countless of criminals. We asked some of the witnesses for a few comments.”

It was disgusting really. The human mind. People could be so shallow. He watched as a young teenagers stepped forward and explained what happened, making her distaste for the so-called Kira’s actions obvious. Several other people followed. All of them too afraid to state what was truly on their minds. A bunch of cowards simply telling the world what they were expected to say. And elderly lady stepped forward.

“In my opinion it’s about time someone stepped forward and did something about it.”

“So you’re saying that you’re not in the least bit sorry for Mr. Larrington’s fate?”

“Not even in the slightest. That man robbed those families blind and left them with nothing while he got away scot-free. It’s a crying shame.”

Raito for one couldn’t help but agree. That man had truly been a piece of work. He swindled poor families into turning over a large part if not all of their money and belonging with the excuse of safekeeping during their time of need. Little did they know he had secretly been selling anything worth-while.

“But that’s young people nowadays, too busy spending time complaining about what is wrong rather then spending time on fixing it.”

“We thank you for our time. Back to you Touyama-san.”

“Thank you Kazane-san. Later this day Jason Irving, a 43 year old male native to the United States of America killed a young male and his family of three after catching his wife in bed with another man. He shot his wife and her lover and proceeded in stabbing his two young children to death before trying to take his own life. The suspect is currently being treated at their local hospital and will be released to the police for further questioning as soon as possible. This is all for the international news of today. We now give the word to Kinta-san with our daily weather report.”

Raito wrote down the name. He didn’t even need to hear the confirmation that exactly 40 seconds later the same suspect would die of a heart-attack. He reached for the remote-control on his nightstand when a reporter suddenly spoke up.

“Ladies and gentlemen! We are sorry to interrupt the following program. We have just been informed that an emergency broadcast will be aired throughout the entire world! None other then the famous and world-renowned detective L will personally be making a statement on the recent wave of deaths amongst criminals. I repeat, the following footage is is an emergency broadcast by the ICPO. Japanese voiceover will be provided by Yoshio Anderson.”

A dark-haired man appeared on screen. The man – named Lind L. Tailor according to the name tag placed on the desk – was wearing a suit that seemed to scream money.

His iron gaze captivated the audience. As men and women all across the world waited for what he would have to say. This was L. The world’s greatest detective.

The guy Kira wanted dead or out of the way. Preferably dead. And Raito was the one Kira handpicked for the job…

“My name is Lind. L. Tailer. Most of you may know me better as “L”. I have only one thing to say to the one responsible for the deaths of so many fellow human beings. You have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally guarantee you that I will catch you at any cost. I have a pretty good idea of what it is you think you are doing and why you’re doing it. But what you are doing is evil.”

Raito could only watch as the mans face contorted into a look of pure venom.

Even though Raito’s current situation wasn’t particularly by choice, for some reason he still felt like this ‘L’ character was addressing him personally.

‘What does he know anyway.’

Raito grabbed the discarded pen and wrote down the guys name in hope to end this predicament as soon as possible. For some reason an odd feeling seemed to be spreading throughout his body.

“Police all over the world have already begun a thorough investiga–”

Whatever it was the man would have wanted to say next, game out in gibberish as he grabbed his chest. It didn’t take long before he dropped dead on top of the desk he had been sitting at.

It was over.

Kira would have to keep his word about not harming hi–

“Unbelievable…”

What in the world?!

“I did this on the off-chance that you would kill me. So, Kira, you can really kill people without being nearby.”

The body of ‘Lind. L. Tailor’ was dragged of screen, but the voice kept talking…

Suddenly a glaring white screen appeared. When the voice sounded again, a black letter had appeared at the centre of the screen. The letter L.

It had been a trap. And he had fallen right into it.

“So it’s true after all. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would have never believed it. But this was the only way you could have killed them, right?”

“He really got you there didn’t he.”

Raito glared at Ryuuku who was laughing in the background, Raito for one could not see the humour in this situation. Had he just killed an innocent human being without a good reason? That same gut-wrenching feeling he had experienced after taking the life of ‘Shibuimaru Takuo’ returned. He was going to be sick…

“Kira. Listen up. The person you just killed was a prisoner who was to be executed around this time today. He was not me. Mr. Tailor was a man imprisoned in a high security prison without the usual media attention, so naturally even you wouldn’t have known of his existence.”

The great detective L had used a stand-in. He should have known.

But why would someone like L use a criminal to stand in his place? Most important figure-heads had well-paid professionals for such events.

“But I, L, am real! So why don’t you try killing me! Come on! Do it! What’s wrong! Can’t you kill me?”

He couldn’t of course. But right now Raito was wishing he could. He only hoped that his ‘employer’ wasn’t watching this. Somehow he doubted that luck would be on his side though…

This could have some serious repercussions.

“You can’t, can you. I’d like to thank you for confirming my suspicions. You can’t kill everyone, can you? Now let me give you a hint to return the favour. The news reported informed you that this broadcast was shown all across the world. But in reality it’s only being shown in Japan. The Kanto region to be exact. I was planning on doing this in the other prefectures as well, but there seems to be no need for it. I now know for certain that you are in the Kanto area.”

Like he said. Serious repercussions.

“The first of the Kira murders occurred in Japan. I simply cast out my net out on the most populated area and struck gold in one blow. It won’t be long before I catch you. And when I do, I’ll find out your killing method and you’ll be brought to justice for the crimes you have committed!”

“L….”

He couldn’t allow it.

“Kira…”

Not while another’s life was at stake. Not the way things were right now. He would see to it that justice was served, not L.

“I will hunt you down and destroy you!”

“I will hunt you down and destroy you!”

“I am…Justice!”

“For I am…Justice!”

The game was on. For real this time.

And Raito was not prepared to lose.

TBC