Chapter 32

My footsteps were quiet as I pranced softly onto the stairs, leaving my suitcase in the dining room after silencing my mom. I wanted to surprise Light with my presence, maybe being the little sister for too long made me more mischievous than I could have ever imagined.

His door was open with a crack which was so unlike Light to forget about his own privacy in his house. Raising an eyebrow, I pushed the door open earning a snap from his neck.

"Light, I never thought you had the talent to be careless," I said as his jaw relaxed at my entrance, shutting his Psychology textbook from To-Oh university in front of him and turning his narrowed eyes at me.

"You're late," he nonchalantly swirled his chair to face me, legs crossed over each other like they owned the place. It was funny because I was never late in the first place since I never mentioned when my flight landed.

"Not late enough to greet you before bed," I giggled as Ryuk floated towards me with interest, both hands in front of him like cute little tiny paws.

"How was China, girly? Were the apples any different from this country?" Ryuk's eyes glowed as the grin on his mouth widened, flashing his pointy teeth.

"China was fun," I shrugged without taking my eyes off of Light. I studied his calm expression with curiosity, realizing that stress and fatigue had taken most of his skin along with the apparent wrinkles on his clothes. If it was a stranger who first saw Light, they would comment on how neat and healthy he was. But from the paleness and dry difference on his skin from before I left and after I came back, the contrast was so apparent that it somehow worried me.

I brushed it away by breaking eye contact.

"Girly, the first thing you do is stare at Light. Can't you be a bit more creative?" Ryuk pouted at me with his gray face before I shrugged.

"Apples are the same as Japan, though they aren't sweet enough to compare," I said. "But they have much more juice than the ones we have here."

Ryuk's eyes gleamed.

"In different locations, they produce different tastes, huh?" Ryuk murmured in interest before turning away.

"Light, you seem," I paused before finding my words. "Edgy."

Ryuk laughed at my comment and turned back to me.

"Girly, you have no idea, he's been acting like he was walking on a tightrope for the past two weeks!"

My eyes blinked back with amusement from Ryuk's words. To be honest, this was how he was supposed to look in the anime. Stressed, yet masking it so carefully that no one could tell. But for some reason, it got worse in my version. Light was becoming careless enough to leave his door wide open for someone to peek in.

"My dear brother, what happened?" I tilted my head and crossed my arms in a sassy way, walking forwards towards him. Brushing a strand of hair off his shoulder, I felt his body relax under my touch.

"The usual," he replied nonchalantly as my eyes flickered towards his, peering to study them. Faint pronounced lines underlined his face with extremely light dark circles that you had to squint twice to see. Yes, that was the eyes of someone who was under pressure and devising a plan so fast that his own mind couldn't keep up with it. His mind was racing, focusing on the task so much that he had forgotten to close his door.

I sighed a bit, closing my eyes before moving myself towards him and placing my forehead onto his with a mischievous smile. Light's face stiffened before relaxing after seeing that I did nothing.

Not now, he would probably think of Misa if I tried to force myself on him.

"If you don't say anything, I'll misunderstand that you missed me." I teased as the crinkles around his eyes deepened with a small smirk.

"And what if I did?" He challenged, making me smile softly.

"Then I'd make your wallet suffer tomorrow," I whispered before leaning back, caressing his face with my cold hands that contrasted the temperature of his face. He shifted his weight in his chair, grasping my hand with his and leaning closer into my palms to use it as an ice bag. He looked...so soft.

I mentally swooned at the picture that was never seen in the anime.

"I always find it so interesting how you siblings can act like that when a third presence is beside you," Ryuk's voice snapped me out from my inner fangirl, forcing me to chuckle at his two wide eyes that were staring intently at us.

"You'll see an even more interesting sight when my brother sleeps with Amane Misa," I snickered at the thought as the grip on my hand tightened almost immediately from my words. My fingers twitched, forcing me to turn back to Light who was giving me a hardened narrowed look. Something inside me bubbled up from his expression, squeezing my heart once at the thought that sex with Misa would upset him.

No, why the hell would my heart feel so fluttery at that thought-

Ryuk nodded in contrast to Light's internal panic.

"Indeed, that is something that would be extremely interesting to see."

I practically started cackling before Ryuk interrupted the perfect chance.

"So girly, how did you know about Light's new girlfriend?"

"Eh, she pulled out a mass murder weapon and chased me with it in mid-street," I said.

I heard a devastating growl from Light's lips as Ryuk burst into a fit of giggles, making me snort at the two.

"Don't get me wrong, seeing her Death God was nice and stuff, but even I had the same reaction as Light from her." Of course, that made Light's hand slip away from mine, palming his face with a long sigh of exasperation.

"I told her to head directly back," Light's face became more callous by the minute, hardening both in tone and face. "If it wasn't for that Shinigami-"

I waited for him to finish his words but he never did, only parts of his words were cut off before he threw himself in silence.

"Well, if you really want to get rid of that Death God, just make Rem kill L or something." I shrugged as Light's eyes snapped to meet mine.

"You knew?" He echoed.

Knew about the 'death Gods will die when they fall in love?'

"Yeah, she explained it briefly when we met," I lied.

The dark look on Light's face slowly lifted at my suggestion before ransacking his mind with my suggestion.

"I need to endanger Misa," was the only thing that slipped out of his lips.

It was at this moment that I realized what had made him so careless in my absence. It was my actions in helping him. Sure, Light was a genius, but in the anime, he was by himself and pushed through L's plans knowing that he would risk his life.

During the entrance exam, Light was supposed to hold his internal conflict while masking his innocent face in front of L. But I ruined it by directly hinting that L was the guy that caught his attention.

While at the hospital, Light was supposed to be in direct scrutiny by L and was challenged harshly, only to bat L off in that intense moment with his fabulous acting. But I divided L's attention onto me while relieving Light's burden.

By relieving his stress about the second Kira on broadcast, I forced him to relax in front of me and calmly analyze the situation.

I had taken away all the intense moments that were supposed to evolve Light to push himself into becoming something colder, more dangerous. I had taken those moments away and minimized the situation, squeezing in my help when I had the chance.

He was now like a baby bird who did not know what to do without support. It was like I had sheltered him from danger. My face paled at the thought.

No wonder he was unable to keep up with himself after I left. It was like having a special ability, then being stripped away with it without any warning in mid-game. L was only going to get more powerful in the mind games, and while Light would be able to keep his poker face, the stress levels for him would bury him.

I had...taken away his potential.

A bitter taste ruptured inside my gut. Guilt. I felt guilty.

But this was the effect I was aiming for, right?

Light hadn't seemed to notice, but I did because I had a comparison.

He couldn't win this without me. It was like Near and Mello. Together they could surpass L. Alone, they would be lacking in certain areas.

Everything around me stilled as my fingers started to pale with more ice, as if something was pulling down my skin and making it tighter to the point where I couldn't clench my hands.

But he was like...a classical character in anime. Ruining him would be like-

"Sayu?" I heard Light's voice snap me out of my thoughts as I bit my lip so hard that I hissed momentarily from the pain.

"Sayu, what's wrong?" Light started to peer with a bit of concern on his face, making me shake my head.

"Light, you-" I stopped, twisting his lips into more of a frown.

"What is it?" He questioned impatiently.

You need to leave me. You need to redo all the events by yourself. You need to-

No, this was what I was going for in the beginning. I tried to make him more dependent on me, and it worked. He couldn't survive without me. He needed me now.

But I...I destroyed what made a legend.

"I was just thinking of how L would move if he had suspected Misa," the smile that was supposed to be bitter felt so sweet on my lips that it had momentarily stunned me.

Someone needed me.

Someone had to depend on me to live.

I-

I was so selfish.

I knew what it was like to be forced to cling to someone unwillingly.

It wrenched my heart knowing that I was doing the same thing.

But it also pleasured me so much that I couldn't stop smiling.

"You think Ryuzaki would suspect her?" Light's tone was calculating and grave before I continued.

"Face it, Light, see how she would carelessly come to your house, take out the note like it was nothing?" I placed my hand on my hip, looking seriously at him.

"L's going to find her traces on the tapes."

Light froze at my suggestion, unfocusing his eyes from my face as he buried into his thoughts.

"You're saying I should let her be captured."

It wasn't a question from Light, it was a statement. My silence answered him.

"That is too big of a risk," Light furrowed up his eyebrows before slightly frowning. "The Death Note would be revealed to him."

'And I will be the prime suspect,' was his hidden words.

But I shrugged casually.

"That would be the moment Misa gets deemed as Kira with foolproof evidence. And when she does..." I raised my fluttering fingers and clenched them harshly, digging my red nails into my palms.

"L would be dead."

Things moved way too fast for my comfort.

The next day, Misa Amane was captured on campus for illegal drug dealing, which was a smart move to cover the second Kira's capture from the public. Light came back home at a steady pace, working on whatever he had in his room.

I was nervous, no, even more so that I was planning to change the plot after L's death. The fact was that if I wanted to win, I'd have to push Light onto the throne, then kill him. But if that happened, I'd have to change the vague second part of the anime almost completely, not that it mattered in the first place because I did not remember the second half.

But what had concerned me, was that I would be walking on thin ice and blindfolded. It was scary as heck.

I heard Light's knock on my door before I opened it, seeing his calm facade had assured me that he had thought of a way to get rid of L from my suggestion.

My eyes blazed in shock when he handed me a custom-made gold locket with a picture of our family and a hidden trap function in the bead of the locket. He had placed a small piece of the Death Note behind the photo.

"Tap this after Misa gets released from Ryuzaki's HQ. She will regain memories of the Death Note," He said before telling me the information where he hid Ryuk's Death Note. I stared widely at him, not believing at what he was doing.

This information...was the one that I had planned with Henrik to get after Misa got released, but to directly tell me?

Something had changed in Light after my long absence. Something had forced him to change. I breathed through my flared nostrils, trying to keep both the excitement and guilt from throwing up from my mouth.

So it was true. The absence of the heart makes the other long for more.

"Why not Rem?" I asked with honest wide eyes. Light's intense gaze furrowed up into morphed judgement at the name.

"Rem will not give Misa the note because it will protect her," he stated simply as the facts ran into my head. But in the anime, Light had gambled on the fact that Rem did not want Misa to forget her.

Seeing my hesitation, he added on.

"I considered the fact that Rem would want Misa to remember her. But with my actions of endangering Misa indirectly, Rem would keep the Note as far from her as possible."

He knows you well, Sayu. You have done so well, my girl.

The voices whispered.

How has Rem not killed Light yet? Was it because...

My mind blanked out.

Did Misa beg Rem to not kill him? But didn't that happen after she got imprisoned? There was no way that Rem wouldn't have killed Light, even if his meeting with Misa on the campus seemed to be accidental-

Did Misa go to Light by herself? Was she the one that initiated the meeting?

But wasn't that supposed to happen later?

My mind whirled before I took the locket with trembling hands. The plot was still intact even though Light had decided to let me touch Misa with the Death Note. Misa would undeniably become the second Kira again and retain her eyes from Ryuk-

But wouldn't it just be quicker if Light had transferred the ownership to me and forced me to make the eye deal?

My eyes widened at my own discovery.

He doesn't want you to become the owner...

He doesn't want you to make the deal...

"Are you...sure?" My voice was now quivering as Light held my shoulders, forcing me to look up at him. My cheeks blazed under the intensity of his unwavering eyes.

"Light," I pushed him away, trying to return the locket in his hands. "No, this-"

"This means my life is in your hands," he finished his sentence for me.

"And if you knew-" I cut off, pressing the locket harder away from me and lowering my fearful eyes. Don't trust me, Light.

Don't trust me.

Don't trust me.

Don't trust me.

Don't trust me, please.

You have done so well, my girl.

The voices in me cackled at my panic, as if not sensing my discomfort.

"Sayu," his whisper silenced everything that was rampaging through my mind. I glanced up, shaking my head. Light did not seem baffled at the least. It was as if he had expected it. Taking my cold fingers and grasping them with his hand, he pulled me closer to him, trapping all the air in my lungs.

"Sayu, listen to me."

His voice grew harsher, more commanding. The emotions through his eyes flickered, searching my eyes to silence my own thoughts.

"I will not let you go," he whispered, leaning dangerously closer to me. I tried pushing myself away from his embrace, balling my fists on his chest yet his grip was so tight that it almost made me scream.

"You will never be able to escape me."

The words burned into my mind as his other hand yanked me closer by trapping me with his arm around my waist. I did not cry. I cannot not.

My expression turned hollow, trying to block the thoughts away from my confused mind. Everything inside me was screaming-shrieking.

I was angry.

Why did he ignore my protests?

I was guilty.

I took everything away from him.

His potential, his life, his trust.

I was happy.

I finally had someone who needed me.

I finally got his trust so that I could backstab him.

Fire spit down my throat as Light's words rang through my head. A red mist started to cover my vision, blinding me with humiliation. I was supposed to be in charge. He was the one that was supposed to kneel down to me, hopeless and helpless.

I was angry.

"You're doing this to trap me, aren't you?" My cold voice mocked in his face, forcing him to stiffen at my remark. The expression on his face cooled the moment I raised up my face and stared directly into his flashing eyes.

"You know that I cannot betray you or else I would lose everything," my voice grew and my expression twisted colder.

"I know that you wouldn't be able to live without me, Sayu." He snarled back, chuckling a bit with pure evil and satisfaction that painted across his face. The words stabbed me like a knife in the heart.

"You will not be able to live without me," glaring as hard as I could, I yanked my hand out of his grasp. "Would you drink it? If I had poisoned your cup and told you to trust me, would you?!"

We were literally screaming in each other's faces, fury blazing in between the both of us. His jaw tensed before he inhaled calmly and released my trembling body. Curving his mouth into a half-smile, he tossed me the locket without care and stepped out of my room.

He thought he had an advantage over me. No, I would not give it to him. Darkness rose up my throat, clawing up the walls to try and splurt out.

Not now. Only when I win.

I heaved in an angry breath before fastening the locket around my neck, the pendant dangling as a vow in between my breasts.

Who has trapped who, exactly?

Author's note:

Also, thank you so much, RimK10 for your tips from the last chapter! And I did not know about that Mafia information! You are extremely knowledgeable on that part! Honestly, I had no idea what the mafia did except for vague 'shady stuff' that I had to search, but well, I didn't find a lot on that part. Thank you for telling me that information! I will try to utilise it in the ff!

Definitely helped from taking a short break from Death Note! This is a secret between us, but even if I take a break you guys don't have to worry about me not updating the 2-3 day time period. Hahaha, I have prepared 10 chapters beforehand just in case these things happen.

Hopefully, you've enjoyed this chapter! The next couple of chapters will be full-on action.

Comments are desperately needed!