Judgement from the Heart

“Watari, the FBI have begun their investigation, correct?” L crouched before his glowing laptop as he always did, speaking to Watari via his microphone.

“Yes,” the man replied. “They’ve been here for four days.”

L bit the tip of his thumb before thanking his contact and cutting the connection. He reached down beside him and picked up a stack of papers the FBI had provided him with which contained the 141 people who had access to case information. It was apparent to him that there was a leak in the investigation, as in, Kira was somehow getting information about the case from someone working on it. While he found this annoying, it also narrowed things down; L now knew that Kira must be among the people listed in the pile of paper and the people closest to them.

L flipped through the pages gently, using his thumb and forefinger. Well, Kira. It seems I’m getting closer to the truth. It’s only a matter of time now.

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“I’ll meet you outside, Emi,” Light said after escorting Emi to her locker. “I’ve got to talk to one of my teachers. It shouldn’t take long.” He leaned down and pecked her lips softly and Ryuk groaned behind him.

“Don’t you get enough of them during class?” the shinigami complained as they walked away. “I know I do.”

Emi smiled to herself as she opened her locker, knowing how much the god of death hated following Light to school. Most of the time, he just plopped down in front of a window and stared at the outside world while Light was in class.

After putting away her books and grabbing her red jacket, Emi closed her locker gently. She shrugged on her jacket, then headed toward the exit, her knee high boots clomping slightly on the tile floor.

From a safe distance away from the school, a man in his late twenties watched as Emi descended the stairs of the school and stopped in front of the banister. Raye Penber knitted his brows together in slight annoyance and confusion. It was times like these he didn’t like being in the FBI. That’s the girl he’s normally with, but where is he? She must be waiting for him…

Emi sighed softly and shifted her messenger bag slightly on her shoulder. She straightened her skirt, even though there was no need for it, and looked down at the watch on her wrist. When she glanced back up, she realized she was no longer alone.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t little miss ‘Emi the Brave.’” It was the guy who had knocked her books out of her hands on her first day. Of course, he wasn’t alone; but instead of just his two normal cohorts, there were about three times as many of them. “And look boys! We’ve finally got her alone!”

Emi bit her lip nervously, knowing there was no way she could take all of them. If she hit one, the rest would probably retaliate. In her peripheral vision, Emi saw the other boys beginning to circle around her. She mentally cursed herself. Just couldn’t take the nonviolent approach that day, could you Emi?

The leader slammed both hands on either side of the banister around Emi, bringing his face inches from hers. “You didn’t think I had forgotten about our little tussle, did you, princess?” He reached up and flicked the hair out of her face, revealing a scowl that could burn holes through someone’s skull. The glare, however, had the opposite effect; the gang surrounding her only laughed.

The FBI agent observed all this, part of him wanting to jump in and end it. The girl was fairly small and he couldn’t help but wonder what she did to get these bullies to harass her. Slightly angered that he couldn’t help her now, he decided if things got bad, he’d do something about it.

Emi pressed herself into the railing behind her as far as she could, more because of the fact she was uncomfortable with the closeness than because she was afraid. She clenched her hands into fists, wanting to say something to him, but she held her tongue.

One of the boys to her left spoke up. “Watch out, Ichiro. She could be Kira and she may kill you.” This of course brought laughter from the group again.

Ichiro chuckled as well. “Yeah, she is pretty weird and only really talks to that Light kid.” He smirked, staring straight into Emi’s glare. “She’s probably some kind of witch and gives those criminals heart attacks with some kind of spell.”

The group howled again, one even going so far as to dramatically clutch his chest and fall to the ground. Shouts of, “She killed him!” and, “He’s dead!” from the gang filled the school yard, mixing with the gang’s laughter.

“I’m not Kira,” Emi growled softly, her anger rising with every second of laughter.

The leader grabbed Emi’s chin and jerked Emi’s face up so she was looking at him again. “What was that, little girl? You have something to say?”

“I’m not Kira,” she repeated with more volume, her tone dripping with venom. “But if I were, I’d make each and every one of you pay.” Being too aggravated to care at this point, Emi did something that was both rash and very unladylike: she spit straight in to Ichiro’s face, making sure it hit him square in the eye.

Without a second thought, Ichiro grabbed Emi’s shirt collar, lifted her small frame off the ground, and slammed her into the banister behind. Emi winced on impact, but tried not to show that she was in any pain. “You little brat,” he spat, a craziness in his eyes that unsettled the girl. “I bet you think you’re so tough. Well, let us show you just how tough you are.”

Light sighed as he strolled down the hallway to the front doors, annoyed that he had to waste time after school when he should be cleansing the world of criminals. He ran his hand gently through his brown hair, hoping Emi wouldn’t be angry that he was gone so long.

“You owe me two apples for this,” Ryuk told him, hovering behind him. “That was just ridiculous.”

“You’re telling me,” Light mumbled as he reached the doors. After his eyes adjusted to the new light, he looked around, his attention immediately caught by a group near the bottom of the stairs. His heart sank as he realized that Emi was right in the middle of the group, being held against the banister by the guy that had messed with her on her first day. Light scowled. Not this guy again. What is wrong with him?

“Hey!” shouted Light, getting the attention of everyone on the ground. “You’re really so weak and cowardly that you pick on a girl?”

Ichiro growled and almost responded, but decided against it. He figured getting into it with a cop’s son may not be in his best interest. Instead he lifted Emi again, signaled to his boys to move, and threw Emi to the ground next to him. She hissed in pain, knowing she was going to have bruises on her back and probably her butt now.

“Let’s get out of here, boys. I think she’s got the message.” The pack snickered again, as they made their way away from the girl.

Light rushed down the steps two at a time and knelt down next to his girlfriend. He raised an eyebrows slightly, seeing that she hadn’t averted her scowl from the direction her harassers had walked away. “Are you okay?” He did a quick search for any blood and was half relieved to find none.

Emi didn’t reply and barely heard what Light had said; anger was deafening her. Her thoughts were a jumble in her mind and crashing into each other, making it hard for her to focus.

Light frowned in concern when Emi didn‘t reply. “I think she’s really mad, Light,” the shinigami pointed out as he joined the two. “She looks ready to kill.”

“Emi.” He placed his hand on her back and she flinched, causing him to quickly remove his hand. She looked up at him, still glaring. “Did that hurt?”

Emi’s expression softened as she looked up at Light. She shook her head. “No. I was just distracted…Sorry.”

“Does anything hurt?” Light questioned her, gently touching her spine.

Emi sighed softly, knowing Light was worried about her. She hated it when people worried about her. “Yeah, just my back and butt. I’ll probably only have bruises though.”

Noticing Emi’s skirt was up her legs further than he was comfortable with from being thrown down, Light reached out and pushed it back down. Ignoring Emi’s blush, he asked her, “So what happened?”

Emi related the story to Light, who seemed to calm down as she did so. He was just glad to find that she hadn’t been the antagonist of the fight and was, for the most part, innocent. He still hated the guy and his friends for ganging up on her in the first place.

“You spit in his face?” asked Ryuk, snickering. “I wish I could have seen that.”

Emi just smiled slightly at the shinigami’s comment, knowing she couldn’t say anything back. Other students were still trickling out of the school, and speaking to thin air would seem a little odd.

The FBI agent assigned to stalk Light Yagami and his family watched as Light helped the dark haired girl up. He was relieved that he had managed to break the group up. By the looks of things, he got there just in time too. Not sure if anything that had just happened was important, Raye added the situation to his notes, including his obvious relationship with the young woman.

“So do you want me to just take you home or are you coming to my place again?” Light asked as the two made their way toward their houses.

“Home,” she muttered bitterly, scrunching her nose. “I should probably take a look at those bruises.”

Light nodded, then turned his attention to the front again. While he enjoyed hanging out with Emi after school, they really didn’t do much, considering he was usually writing in the Death Note while she studied. So, he didn’t mind taking her home.

Ryuk hovered along behind the two as he always did, debating on whether he wanted to warn Light of the man that had been following him for a few days. He finally decided he felt awkward with someone “watching” him, so he spoke up. “Hey Light, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Light rolled his eyes and lowered his voice. “I told you not to talk to me in public. People can’t hear you, but they can hear me.”

“Which is why I need to tell you now,” the shinigami insisted. Light sighed and gave a slight, unnoticeable nod. Ryuk continued. “I don’t hate you and in some ways feel like you’re the perfect person to have picked up my notebook. But, I’m not on yours or L’s side in this whole thing, so I don‘t care if it‘s right or wrong.”

Light glanced over at Emi, who seemed more intrigued by the death god’s talkative mood, and smiled slightly. “I already knew this.”

Ryuk chuckled a little. “So anyway, since we live together there’s something I have to say.”

Emi reached over and laced her fingers with Light’s. She squeezed gently, sensing that Light was getting annoyed with Ryuk. It was her way of telling him to be careful of how annoyed he became and how much of his irritation showed.

Taking the hint, Light kept his voice level as he said, “It’s a little odd for you to be telling me something like this now.”

“Well, this isn’t for Kira; I’m only telling you this because I feel uncomfortable not saying it.”

Emi bit her lip trying not to laugh as Light half growled under his breath. “Just say it.”

By now Ryuk was slightly amused himself. In some ways, he liked annoying Light. But he only did it for entertainment, not to be mean, since Light was his main source for apples. “I’ve been following you this whole time, so I noticed right off, and it’s pretty obnoxious. For the past two days, somebody has been following you.”

Light’s eye widened slightly in surprise, and Emi shifted uncomfortably, then moving closer to Light to make it seem innocent. After quickly regaining his composure, Light murmured, “What a pain. I’ll get rid of him as soon as possible.”

The couple finished their trip to Emi’s house in silence, both too occupied by their own thoughts to say much. Light accompanied Emi to her front door and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, knowing it was too late now to try and hide the fact that they were together. He sighed softly; he didn’t like the fact that he had probably pulled Emi into this too.

Emi smiled to herself and hid her face in his chest, positive that there was no way she could be overheard with her voice muffled this way. “If you’re that this guy will somehow get dirt on you and take me down with you, don’t be.” She tilted her head back up to look at Light, the small smile still on her lips.

Following Emi’s example, Light leaned down and kissed her neck so his face was toward her front door. “But you could be in danger.” He ran his fingers gently up and down her side.

Emi shuddered slightly, glad her parents weren’t home yet. While this was fairly innocent, she knew her parents would freak out about it. “I’ll be fine,” she reassured him without really trying to hide anything. If this guy had been watching, he probably saw what happened earlier and would assume that’s what she was referring to.

“You better be.” Light kissed her neck again, this time for the sake of doing it rather than to hide what he was saying from his stalker. He then returned to his full height. “I better get going though.”

Emi nodded. “Okay.” She shifted to her tip toes and pressed her lips to his. Light returned the gesture, slightly surprised that Emi instigated the kiss. He was usually the one to do it.

After a few minutes, Light pulled away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Em.”

Emi waved as Light and Ryuk descended the steps of her porch. Once they had disappeared, Emi entered her home slowly. As she was closing the door, she glimpsed the man who was investigating her boyfriend as he pursued his target.