Judgement from the Heart

Sunlight filtered in through the window of Emi’s bedroom, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut in her sleep. Being unable to return to dream land, Emi sighed and slipped out of bed. Without bothering to look in the mirror or brush her hair, Emi exited her bedroom and padded down the stairs.

After almost running into a wall and tripping on the carpet, Emi arrived at her destination: the kitchen. Her father, who was sitting at the table reading the newspaper, peeked over the top of it and grinned at his only daughter. “Good morning Emi.” He chuckled. “Decided not to brush your hair today, huh?”

Emi picked up the toaster and examined her reflection. Her hair stuck out at every angle imaginable, looking like a tornado had made its way through. She set the toaster back on the counter. “A brush alone would never make this,” she pointed at her head, “right.”

Haru Kanzaki laughed and shook his head just as Emi’s mother entered the room. She was about to comment on Emi’s hair as her husband had, but Emi stopped her. “Before you say anything about my choice of hairstyle today, I know. I’ll fix it later before I go to Light’s.” She leaned against the counter, pointlessly trying to straighten her hair out with her fingers.

By now, Emi’s dad had returned to reading the newspaper. Emi watched as he turned the page and sighed. “More of this Kira, L stuff huh?” He folded the paper neatly and set it down in front of him. “It’s hard to believe any of it’s real. But after that broadcast the other night, it’s a little hard to deny. What do you think Em?”

“I don’t really know,” she replied with a small shrug. She knew she needed to give neutral answers when it came to this topic. “Like you said, it’s hard to say they don’t exist from seeing what happened the other night. But, it could still be the police trying to scare people. Although, even that seems really desperate for anyone.”

Kaya frowned at the two. Emi’s mother wasn’t one that liked talk about death; she preferred more positive things. Plus, she hated when he husband involved her daughter in conversations like this. “Okay, that’s enough talk about that. Haru, if you want to discuss this Kira mess, go find one of your coworkers or something. But either way, I want you out because I want to talk to Emi.”

Emi’s father decided not to protest, considering it was probably some kind of girl thing he didn’t care to listen to, and stood up. He kissed both of them on the cheek and left the kitchen to finish his reading in the living room.

As soon as her husband was gone, Kaya turned to her daughter. “So, Emi. Going to Light’s again today?”

Emi nodded as she picked up an apple from the nearby fruit bowl. She took a bite of it, knowing exactly where this conversation was going.

“You two are spending a lot of time together.” Deciding to quit beating around the bush and knowing Emi had already figured out where she was going, Kaya took a more blunt approach. “How serious are you two?”

Slightly caught off guard, Emi looked at her mother and swallowed the bite of apple she had been chewing. She hadn’t expected her mom to get to the point so quickly. “Um…I don’t think I know what you mean, Mom.”

“I mean…well…” The woman paused to gather her thoughts. Until she and Haru had decided to send Emi to public school, she never really thought she’d have to have this conversation until she went to University at least. “I guess what I want to know is, are you two having sex?”

Emi almost choked on her apple when her mom’s final word left her mouth. “What? Mom, that’s crazy!” If she didn’t feel insulted, she might have laughed. Sex with Light had never crossed her mind at least and she was pretty sure Light probably hadn’t thought about such activities either.

As if reading her mind, her mother replied, “Sweetie, that wasn’t meant as an insult. It’s just, this is your first boyfriend, and I want you to know that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, no matter what anyone tells you.”

Even though Emi still felt a little angry at her mother’s assumption, she smiled a little, knowing her mom only wanted to protect her. “I know, Mom. Light’s not like that, I promise. He’d never try to make me do anything, let alone something I didn’t want to do. Besides, I’m too stubborn; if I don’t want to do something, I won’t.”

Kaya, feeling a little better about her daughter’s new relationship, smiled weakly. “I know, Emi.” She wrapped her arms around her daughter. “You’re a strong girl. Don’t ever change that.”

“I don’t plan to, Mom.” She smiled as her mother let go of her.

“Good.” Kaya glanced over at the clock hanging from the opposite wall. “But you should start cleaning up if you plan on getting that hair of yours presentable before the end of the world.”

Emi finished her piece of fruit. “Thanks. Way to make me feel better about my rat’s nest.”

Kaya just laughed and shook her head at Emi’s statement. Feeling like that was her cue to get going, Emi shuffled out of the kitchen and back up to her room. She skillfully made her way over to her closet, dodging around the random objects littering the floor. After pulling the doors open, she browsed through her closet and selected an outfit, not really caring what she grabbed. With clothes in hand, she crossed the hall and entered the bathroom.

After showering, Emi turned the shower off and reached for her towel hanging on the wall nearby. She toweled her body off, then ran the towel through her unmanageable hair, thinking bitterly about how lucky other girls seem to have it with their perfect hair that probably never tangles no matter what. If only they knew what hair like this was like to make all perfect, or even presentable.

Emi pulled the towel from her hair once it wasn’t dripping wet anymore, then stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her as she went. She made her way over to the sink and picked up the hair dryer. She smiled to herself. “Time to tame the wild beast,” she muttered to her reflection.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to her, Emi managed to straighten her hair to a point where it wasn’t going to annoy her all day. Then, she hung her towel back on its proper hook. Looking down at her outfit, Emi found that it actually matched, considering she hadn’t paid much attention to what she had grabbed. The outfit consisted of a pair of black skinny jeans and a black and white striped, long sleeved, off the shoulder top. She slipped into her clothes and put on her makeup before leaving the bathroom.

Emi walked back to her room and reached out to open the door, only to have her hand slip off the handle due to her sleeve having fallen over her hand. She sighed, being reminded of how small she was, and wiggled her hand out of the opening. Once the door was open, she re-entered her room.

As she delicately slid her small feet into her shoes, Emi wondered what the police would do next concerning the Kira case. Or, more importantly, what L would do next. Should she worry the way she does, or should she trust that Light has everything under control as he claims?

Emi sighed softly. I told Light I wouldn’t worry about it, so I’m not going to. She pulled the door closed after her before heading back down the stairs.

“I’m leaving!” shouted Emi to her parents while opening the front door.

“Be home in time for dinner!” her mom replied from the kitchen.

The young woman responded affirmatively and departed, bounding down the steps of the front porch and down the sidewalk toward Light’s house. The gentle breeze constantly played with her black hair, making Emi wish she had put it up, and the sun was too warm on her pale skin for her liking. And people wonder why I prefer to stay inside…

Her walk came to an end as she reached the Yagami’s front gate. She strode up to the front door and rang the doorbell. An exasperated yelp from inside followed by quick footsteps made Emi raise an eyebrow in slight confusion.

Before any conclusions could be drawn about the situation, the door was thrown open, and Emi just barely glimpsed Sayu before she made a mad dash back to the living room. Emi laughed slightly. “Hello to you too, Sayu!”

Sayu peeked back into the main hall as Emi removed her shoes. Her brown eyes shimmered with guilt as she said, “I’m sorry, Emi. But it’s Hideki Ryuga! He‘s so perfect!”

Being amused by Sayu’s infatuation with a pop star, Emi smiled softly. “It’s fine, Sayu. It’s totally understandable.”

Unbeknownst to either girl, Light had entered the main hall from the kitchen and was leaning against a wall as they conversed. “Yeah Sayu,” he began with a slight smirk, “it’s totally understandable that you plan to get married to a man who doesn’t even know you exist.”

Both Emi and Sayu turned their attention to Light; the older of the two smiling and the younger girl blushing, but trying to cover it with a scowl. Sayu stamped her foot angrily. “Shut up, Light! I don’t plan on marrying him you jerk!”

Light just shrugged in response, the smirk still lingering on his lips. Sayu huffed and poked her tongue out at her older sibling before flipping around on her heel and marching back to the living room.

“You’re so mean to her,” Emi pointed out, deciding to move out of the doorway.

Light moved over to his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. “It’s a sibling thing.” He slid one hand up her back and ran it through her dark, silky hair. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand since you’re an only child and all.”

“Whatever you say,” mumbled Emi, not in the mood to argue at the moment. She closed the small gap between them and rested her head on his chest.

While still playing with Emi’s hair, Light glanced into the living room where he saw his sister watching them from her place on the couch, a goofy grin plastered on her face. He rolled his eyes and released Emi. “Shall we go upstairs?”

Emi nodded, and Light took her hand, leading her upstairs to his room. As he closed the door and locked it behind him, Light watched his girlfriend cross his bedroom and plop down on the edge of the bed.

Ryuk, who was sitting in front of the TV, controller in his long, unearthly hands, growled at the screen. “What was that?! Cheater!”

“What are you playing, Ryuk?” Emi questioned the shinigami, giggling behind her hand. The thought of a god of death playing video games was extremely amusing to her.

“Mario Kart,” he replied shortly, his attention held tightly by the racing game.

Following Emi’s lead, Light walked to his bed and sat next to Emi. He smiled a little, thinking Emi was cute when she giggled. He leaned down and kissed her cheek gently, letting his lips linger momentarily.

A blush crept into Emi’s cheeks as she remembered what her mom had talked to her about earlier. She frowned and scrunched her nose. Great, now I’m going to feel all awkward for a while.

“What? Am I not allowed to kiss you anymore?” asked Light, chuckling. He still couldn’t help finding Emi’s strange social habits entertaining. Though she had gotten ten times better, she still had her moments.

Emi looked up at Light, her gray eyes slightly wider than normal. She shook her head, then had to swat her hair out of her face. “No. It’s just…” She twirled a strand of hair and bit her lip before continuing. “Well, mom had ‘the talk’ with me earlier.”

“’The talk’?” Ryuk interjected, not taking his eyes from the TV screen. Even though most of his attention was on his game, he still had enough to spare to eavesdrop on the humans. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Light, wondering how Emi would explain this to the shinigami, also gave her a questioning look, feigning ignorance.

Knowing she couldn’t avoid the explanation now, Emi sighed softly. “She asked me if Light and I were…um…having sex.”

Ryuk turned away from the screen momentarily, slightly shocked, causing his kart to crash into a wall. He turned back and cursed at the game, quickly righting his car and getting back into the race.

“Oh…” Light kept his face serious, even though he wanted to smirk at the act he was putting on. “Well…do you want to?”

Emi stood up and blushed a deeper red than anyone could have thought possible. “No, of course not!” She crossed her arms as Ryuk snickered behind her.

Light stood up, chuckling. “I was kidding, Emi. It’s too early in our relationship for that.” He held out his arms to hug her, but she turned away stubbornly, refusing to look at him. “Oh, you’re mad at me now?” He was more amused than worried; Emi didn’t seem to stay mad at him for long.

Still facing away from Light, arms still crossed, Emi didn’t answer the question, but countered with her own question. “Don’t you have Kira stuff to do?”

“Nope.” Light returned to his spot on the bed and fell back so he was lying down. “I’m taking a little break.”

Emi turned back around, eyebrow quirked. “Light Yagami taking a break? That doesn’t sound at all like you.” She sat back down on the bed. “Normally, you’re over at your desk writing up a storm, barely even stopping when I decide to talk to you.”

“Well,” he began, lacing his fingers behind his head, “according to Dad, L has already figured out that Kira is a student from the times of deaths.”

“I see.” Emi pulled her knees to her chest and traced her lower lip with her thumb. “And I assume you have a way to combat this?”

“Of course.” Light stood up, walked over to his desk, and pulled the Death Note from its hiding place. He returned to the bed and sat down next to Emi. “According to the rules,” he opened the notebook, handed it to Emi, and pointed to one of the rules Ryuk had written, “you can write the time of death after writing the cause of death as a heart attack as long as it‘s within forty seconds.”

“Which means you’re going to pick times of death for the criminals that would throw off L’s assumption, correct?” Emi read over the particular rule, then tilted her head back to look into Light’s brown eyes. Light began to answer her, but Emi interrupted before he could. “Or, you want him to realize that you can manipulate the time of death.”

Light chuckled softly. “You don’t miss a thing do you, Em?” He ran a hand through his light brown hair. “But yeah. I want him to figure that much out from that.”

Emi smirked slightly, swinging her legs around onto the floor. “This confidence of yours is going to get you killed. Your dad may be head of the case under L, but that doesn’t mean you’re home free in this.”

“I know.” Light took the notebook from Emi when she held it out to him and returned it to his desk drawer. When he turned back, he found his girlfriend staring at him thoughtfully. He raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to blink and look down at her hands quickly. “What was that about?”

Emi averted her gaze back to the young man, a hint of mischief glittering in her eyes; mischief Light had never seen there before. Smiling, she responded, “You. You’re so…” She used her hands to search her invisible file cabinet before finishing her statement. “Unbelievable.”

“Should I feel insulted or complimented?” Light wondered, laughing slightly. He returned to his abandoned place on the bed, pulling Emi down with him.

With a giggle, Emi answered, “I’ll leave that up to you.” She turned over on her stomach and wriggled forward so her chin rested on Light’s chest. “But, you know I’d never say anything to insult anyone.”

“And this is coming from one of the most blunt people I know.” Emi grinned innocently at Light’s comment. After shaking his head, Light leaned forward and kissed her nose softly.

Emi buried her face in the crook of Light’s neck, smiling. “So? What’s wrong with that?” was her muffled reply.

“Noth--”

“Light!” The couple sat up at the sound of Sayu yelling from downstairs. “Help Mom bring in the groceries!”

Emi snorted as Light groaned and stood up. “I’ll be down in a sec!” he called back bitterly. Turning back to Emi, he said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

As Light exited the room, Emi giggled softly, finding it funny that his little sister could get him to do almost anything. Ryuk, who had given up on his game moments before, was also snickering. “If his sister only knew how easy it is for her to get things from Light…Now that could be interesting.”

Emi crossed her legs grinning. “Light would be miserable, I’m sure.” She found herself imagining Sayu ordering Light around constantly and had to cover her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh out loud. “But all in all, I think that would be entertaining.”