Light’s POV:

Almost a week had passed since L’s surprise appearance at the university. Light had been silently fuming almost that entire time. While he hadn’t planned on killing L right away, he did intend to dispose of him as soon as he was sure having Misa around wouldn’t cause any suspicion to his girlfriend or the rest of the Task Force, which would have been rather soon if his plan worked out.

However, L’s sudden sneak attack put a dent in his plans, now he would have to wait much longer to take action. Light at least had to wait until the Task Force forgot about L’s assertion about him, and who knew how long that would take.

It could take weeks, or perhaps even months. There was no way he would be able to hold out for that long. Light wanted L to be gone as soon as possible. Therefore, he would have to try and come up with a way to distract the Task Force subtly. It also had to be something that wouldn’t attract any attention to himself in particular. He still had yet to figure out what that something should be, but he knew it would come to him soon enough.

On the other hand, while he had suffered a pretty major setback, he still had some reason, however small to celebrate. He had won one of the many battles he was fighting. By some miracle, Misa had officially gained his girlfriend’s trust. While the two were not close enough to be sharing state secrets, the two of them at least could label each other as friends.

Well, at least Keiko now referred to Misa as one of her friends. It had taken Misa a shopping trip, two visits to a local coffee shop, and one visit to the movies first, but in the end, things worked out. Light had known that, as long as Misa seemed sincere, Keiko would crack and let her in.

Meanwhile, pesky Misa Amane still saw Keiko as an enemy, someone who was keeping her precious Light away from her.

Misa made it rather clear to Light that she did not like Keiko Kagami. However, to Light, it didn’t matter if Misa loved or hated his girlfriend. He honestly couldn’t care less what Misa thought of her. All that mattered was Keiko’s opinion, as long as Keiko trusted Misa, there was no way she could suspect her of being the Second Kira.

He just had to continue to be careful, and make sure that nothing he or Misa did would break that trust. Trust was a fragile thing, Light Yagami knew that. One small mistake could end up ruining everything. He had to ensure that no accidents would occur.

Light sighed as he stepped outside, letting the light, gentle breeze greet him. He had figured that a nice, long walk might do him some good. It would be a good way for him to blow off some of the steam that had recently built up within him.

He expected that he would walk around the neighborhood a couple times, then perhaps stop and get some coffee at a local shop downtown. After all, it was a Saturday afternoon, he didn’t have any plans weighing him down. He had no Saturday classes, no visits planned to Task Force headquarters, and no plans with his girlfriend.

Keiko had informed Light the previous evening that she was planning on spending her Saturday visiting her father’s grave. She explained that all of the stress of the investigation had taken quite a toll on her. Keiko admitted to Light that she tried not to think of her father too often, because it depressed her, because she felt like he was taken from her and her mother much too soon.

She had looked up to him, she thought the world of him. In fact, the reason why Keiko decided on becoming a private investigator was because she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. After his death, her career choice also became a way for her to feel closer to him, despite the fact he was long gone.

After listening to Keiko pour her heart out about her father over the phone the previous evening, Light thought he could safely assume that Keiko would spend almost all of her Saturday at her father's headstone. Also, as much as he hated to admit it, he almost wished that Keiko would have invited him to go with her. He wanted to ‘meet’ the man who had done so much in shaping who Keiko was today.

To Light, Keiko Kagami was rather interesting. One couldn’t deny she was intelligent, after all she had only been one rank behind Light all those years in school, and she managed to score a hundred percent on To-Oh’s entrance exam. However, she had a bad habit of trusting people too easily, something that made her naive. After all, it didn’t take her very long to fall for him, despite the fact that he was the investigation’s number one Kira suspect.

She trusted her boyfriend, which meant that she was blindingly trusting Kira. It also hadn’t taken her long to accept Misa as a friend, even though she originally disliked the girl, which meant that she was also blindingly trusting the Second Kira.

It’s a shame, because if I were living an ordinary life as a college student, Keiko Kagami would have most definitely been my ideal girl. But now, it’s almost like a game...no, actually, it’s more like she’s a puppet on my strings. And I can’t afford to fall in love with her, no matter what, no matter how my heart pangs whenever she’s around. I must ignore that...I can’t afford to have any weaknesses…anyway, she’s such a fool, heh. To think, she’s so smart, yet unbeknownst to her, her boyfriend is Kira. The one person she’s working with L and the rest of the Task force to catch. The god of a new world. Me.

Light let out a small chuckle as he headed towards the edge of his neighborhood, deep in thought. He had expected that he would have the whole Saturday to himself, without any other distractions to somehow bother him. He was ready for some well deserved peace and quiet, ready to be lost in his thoughts.

What he certainly didn’t expect was to suddenly be bombarded by a certain blonde haired model, who appeared out of thin air and unashamedly attached herself to his right arm.

“Light-kun!” Misa Amane squealed in his ear, making Light stop dead in his tracks, “I have you all to myself today, don’t I?!”

Keiko’s POV:

It appeared that, for the moment, there were no new developments with the Kira investigation, which was a relief for Keiko. This meant that she was able to catch up on some much needed sleep. And for that, she was glad because, while dark circles seemed to work on L, on her they didn’t look so good.

This also meant that she finally had time to meet up with her old high school friends as well. Due to the crazy demands of the investigation and her schoolwork, she hadn’t seen Maki or Akito in what felt like ages. She took the chance and met up with them the previous day.

Keiko caught up with them, and when they asked whether or not she was still investigating the Kira case she didn’t lie, she said yes. However she left out the part about her being a part of the Task Force, or the fact that she had met L, figuring that while she felt she could tell them anything, some things were best left unsaid. She hadn’t even told her mother that she was investigating with them, instead she told her that she had joined quite a few clubs at school, which were keeping her busy. That got her mother off her back as to why she was gone so often.

One thing she did tell her friends, though, was about her plan to surprise her boyfriend by asking him to accompany her the following day to her father’s grave. After all they had been dating for quite a few months now and she felt it was high time for Light to meet him. Besides, she hadn’t visited her father’s grave for a while, not since the beginning of her final year of high school. That had been before the Kira investigation even started, before she got into To-Oh University, before she had started dating Light Yagami.

Keiko really missed her father. He had always been the picture of health, but the diagnosis had snuck up on him. Terminal cancer had a way of doing that, and by the time the doctors had caught it, it had been far too late. They could only do so much for him before the inevitable occured.

While going to visit her father’s grave was hard, because he had been taken away from her and her mother far too early, she felt she had to do it. She had to do it to stay as close as she could to him, and to make sure her father stayed updated on her life.

What better way to keep her father informed than to introduce her current boyfriend to him? Keiko was set on having Light coming with her, and she figured that he wouldn’t refuse. While it was clear that Light never wanted to make her uncomfortable by bringing up her father with her, she knew that he was still rather curious about him, especially because he influenced her to follow in his footsteps.

“So I’m going to call my boyfriend tonight, and tell him that I’m planning on visiting my father’s grave tomorrow, but what he won’t know is that I want him to come with me. Then I’ll unexpectedly drop by tomorrow at his house before I head off to the cemetery...it’s perfect, don’t you two think?” Keiko had smiled as she spilled her plans for Light and her father to her friends. She had hoped that they would be supportive of her decision. After all, they both had gone with Keiko in the past to visit her father themselves.

“So, wait, you know for sure Light-kun won’t be busy, right?” Akito had asked her, her round eyes were filled with concern, “I mean I don’t want you to go all the way to his house to pick him up tomorrow only to discover that he already made plans.”

“Don’t worry,” Keiko had assured her best friend, “he told me that he didn’t have anything going on tomorrow. So everything should be good...do you think he’ll want to go? Do you think he’ll say yes?”

“He’d better,” Maki responded, a protective glint in her eyes, “but seriously, if Light Yagami truly cares about you, he will. And if not, well, then I guess it’s time to break up with him and move on with your life!”

“Maki-chan!” Akito had chided, snapping her attention over to where Maki was sitting, “don’t be so harsh!”

“I’m just saying,” Maki crossed her arms defensively across her chest, “if golden boy is really the one for Kagami-san then he won’t have a problem with accompanying her to visit her father. It’s that simple.”

“If you say it that way...then I guess you’re right,” Akito responded, and she looked over at Keiko, “but...don’t worry, I think he’ll say yes.”

Keiko smiled and nodded at her two best friends, they had just given her all of the support she needed in order to go through with her secret plan.

So there Keiko was the following day, heading down the all too familiar streets toward her boyfriend’s house, excitement coursing through her veins. For the first time in over a year, she was going to visit her father, and her boyfriend would finally have a chance to properly get to know him.

Light’s POV:

“Light-kun!” Misa had repeated when she noticed the sandy haired guy still hadn’t responded to her, “hellooo? Is anyone home?”

Light grabbed the offending arm, and pushed Misa away from him, a cold expression on his face, “what’re you doing here? I never asked for you to come over; we have no reason to see each other right now.”

Misa pouted, and latched onto his arm once more, “wah, don’t be so cold to me, Light-kun! It hurts!”

Light took a deep breath, “just answer the question, Misa-chan. Why are you here right now, when I never asked you to be? You do realize that someone from the Task Force could very well still be following me, right?! Or even you, for that matter...you know, I actually wouldn’t put it past them...”

“Oh, right...well don’t worry, we’re safe,” Misa gave Light a thumbs up, “I’m sure if there was someone following you or me, Rem would have found them and let me know by now...anyway, your girlfriend mentioned to me that she was visiting her father’s grave today...so I figured, with Kagami-san finally out of the picture, I could spend the day with you! Think about it, a day for just us, no meddling girlfriends! Doesn’t that sound wonderful, Light-kun?”

After hearing that no one had been following Misa, Light relaxed a little. Even he had to admit that he didn’t feel the glare of anyone’s eyes. Aside from a couple empty cars parked at his neighbor’s house, the neighborhood was pretty quiet.

However, he still didn’t want to waste the day by spending time with Misa. He would have to find a way to get rid of her somehow.

But how…? I have to think of something, and fast...she’s already seriously getting on my nerves! After all, this was supposed to be a relaxing day for me.

He was broken away from his thoughts when he heard Misa’s voice ringing out in his ear once more, “ooh! Now that I think about it, we could finally go on a date together! Keiko-chan would never have to know! Ooh yay, today should be a lot of fun!”

I have to at least be civil with her, I can’t have her getting angry at me...however, I also have to be firm.

“Misa-chan,” Light started, turning his head slightly to look at her, “as fun as that sounds, I’m afraid I can’t go on a date with you. After all, it doesn’t matter if Kagami-san won’t find out about it, it’s just not gentleman-like to cheat on a girl.

Misa puffed her cheeks out, “oh, come on...don’t be so boring...don’t you know that being naughty can be rather fun?”

Light sighed, “I already told you; I have no intention to cheat on my girlfriend...however, I promise, if you can make me fall for you...I’ll go on all the dates you want.”

Heh, I’ll never fall for you...so this promise doesn’t mean anything...but you don’t have to know that...in fact, it’s better for both of us if you never found out.

Light had hoped that Misa would be pretty pleased with the promise he just made it, and he hoped that it would be enough of an incentive for her to buzz off. After all, he had gotten her to shut up that first night by giving her hope that he’d possibly fall for her.

For one of the first times in his life, Light Yagami was wrong.

“Don’t you get it?!” Misa cried out. She had finally snapped, “I’m sick of waiting; I want you all to myself...why can’t the two of us just get together already?!”

She was starting to get rather loud. The last thing Light wanted to do was make a scene. He attempted to cover Misa’s mouth with his hand, but she released her grip on his other arm and pushed him away, continuing on, “the only person that’s really standing in the way of us being together isn’t Keiko-chan, but L, isn’t it?! That’s why you refuse to break up with her, you don’t want to look suspicious to him… so can’t we just kill him right now? Just take Rem and I to where he is, we can take note of his name and eliminate him once and for all! That way, I can finally be free to make you fall for me and be your girlfriend!”

Finally out of breath, Misa stopped, and looked over at Light. His eyes were narrowed and he had an unreadable expression on his face.

“I’m afraid I just can’t do that,” he announced after a moment, “you see, L told the Task Force to assume that if he were to die soon, to assume that I am Kira...he knows that the original Kira and the Second Kira have made contact with each other, and he assumes that is only a matter of time until the two of them find a way to get rid of him. If he were to suddenly die, it’s a death sentence for me, and it would only be a matter of time until the Task Force started to suspect you of being the Second Kira, so you’d end up getting caught as well…”

Misa’s eyes widened, “wahh?! I thought you had me make that final video tape in order to ensure that L didn’t find out that the two Kiras had made contact with each other.”

Light shrugged, “it doesn’t matter what the purpose of that video tape was now...what matters now is figuring out a way to distract the rest of the Task Force and make them forget about L’s statement, so that when L actually dies, we would both be clear of suspicion.”

“I see,” Misa murmured. She bit her lip, in deep thought, “well...I don’t know how long it’ll take for us to get rid of L then...ugh this sucks! I have no choice but to wait…but, if I can’t be your girlfriend now, then can’t I at least get a kiss from you? After all, I worked so hard this past week to gain your girlfriend’s trust! I should be rewarded anyway, you owe me! So technically it wouldn’t be cheating!”

All of a sudden, a grin came across Misa’s face, and she leaned forwards, towards Light, “actually, you know what, I’m going to go for it, if that’s alright...after all, who wouldn’t want a kiss from a cute model?”

Light was about to shake his head no in refusal to her outrageous request, but before he even had a chance to properly respond, Misa wrapped her hands around his waist, pulling Light closer towards her. Soon, the two of them were face to face, only mere inches apart. Misa didn’t wait for him to react, she had only one goal in mind. So she took her chance, leaning forward and kissing him square on the lips.

Keiko’s POV:

Keiko walked along the sidewalk, humming to herself as she got closer and closer to Light’s neighborhood. The closer she got, the more excited she felt. She was about to turn the corner, when the sound of voices made her pause.

I hear voices...wait a second, is that Misa? Oh god, I sure hope not...while she may have good intentions, it’s hard to be around her for an extended period of time without wanting to pull all of my hair out.

Keiko sighed, listening carefully. After a moment she was able to deduce that it was, in fact, Misa’s voice she was hearing. However, she couldn’t quite make out what was being said.

Great, it’s her…even though I know she hates being left of of plans, but she definitely isn’t invited to come along with Light and I. We aren’t that close yet. I’ll just say hi to her, then explain to Light that we have to get going.

“Alright, let’s go,” Keiko murmured. She closed her eyes, and turned the corner, entering her boyfriend’s neighborhood.

Keiko opened her eyes, searching for her friend and her boyfriend. However, when she finally spotted them, standing in front of Light’s house, she wished she had kept her eyes closed.

She wished that she had never met Light Yagami. She wished that she had gotten tangled up with him, never ran into him at that convenience store, never kissed him in front of her ex boyfriend, never agreed to go on a date with him.

Why? Because there Light Yagami was, standing not too far away away from her, his lips suctioned to Misa Amane’s lips. The two were entangled together, as her new supposed friend had her arms wrapped around his waist. When Keiko saw Light’s hands reach upwards towards Misa’s chest, her stomach churned and she thought she was going to be sick for a moment.

I can’t take any more of this!

Keiko turned away, and started running in the opposite direction. She wanted to get as far away from them as was humanly possible. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, and her heart was pounding wildly in her chest. Keiko felt as though her heart was being torn into a million pieces, and said pieces were now taking individual turns deeply stabbing her.

First Daicho cheated on me...now Light...how could I be so dumb? Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me...I should have seen this coming.

She couldn’t believe how stupid she was. No matter what, she couldn’t erase that image from her mind. It haunted her as she ran away from the subdivision, away from the two of them, towards nowhere in particular.

Keiko never even noticed that there had been another witness to Light and Misa’s kissing. She never noticed that she had an audience to all of her pain. Kanzo Mogi watched from his secret car hideout as the girl sprinted away from Light’s neighborhood, away from her problems.

Light’s POV:

Dammit, when I asked for a distraction, this wasn’t what I had in mind!

Light’s hands went towards Misa’s chest, however it wasn’t in an attempt to touch her sensually, but rather, it was an attempt to push the girl as far away from him as possible. However, it appeared that wasn’t necessary because, a few seconds later, Misa pulled away on her own. There was a stupid grin now playing out on her face.

“Thanks for the kiss, Light-kun. I now have the power to continue on,” she purred out flirtatiously, giggling a little.

“What do you mean kiss?” Light snapped. His eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms out in front of his chest, “that was more like sexual assault, you forced yourself on me!”

She’s lucky she’s under Rem’s protection...otherwise she would have been long gone by now, shinigami eyes or not! She’s just way too much to handle...

Misa pouted, “aww, but didn’t you enjoy it? Wait a second...are you trying to tell me I’m a bad kisser?!”

Light struggled to keep himself composed, she was seriously getting on his last nerve. However, he couldn’t risk yelling at her or else it’d make a scene. The last thing he wanted to do was to draw attention to the two of them. He couldn’t risk anything like that happening now, not with L’s watchful eyes. He was very lucky at the moment that it appeared no one had been following them.

“Amane-san,” he coldly started. His eyes were narrowed at the blonde haired girl in front of him, “don’t. You. Ever. Do. That. Again. You hear me? I thought I made it very clear earlier that I do not tolerate cheating and that I had no intention to cheat on my girlfriend. If you want to make me fall for you, this isn’t the way to do it. If anything, you’re making me never want to be around you again…”

“I-I’m sorry,” Misa stuttered out, unable to look him in the eyes.

Light sighed, “if you’re sorry, then show it. As I said, don’t ever do this again. You’re extremely lucky that no one followed you today...if someone from the Task Force or my girlfriend were to find out, all hell would break loose. I’m sure that there’s no way that L would be able to overlook my relationship to you then…ugh, dammit! Why can’t you understand that you can’t just do things like this? We can’t afford to be this reckless. That’s how people get caught!”

“Don’t worry,” Misa responded. “I promise I’ll be good and I won’t do it again! But you have to know...not being your girlfriend is killing me! Can’t we at least just hang out together more? That way I’ll be satisfied,” she whined.

“Only if you’re good. As I said, don’t you ever do something like that again,” Light cooly replied, “now, please go away...all I wanted was to go for a peaceful, undisturbed walk…”

And with you around, that goal is entirely unachievable...if one small thing goes wrong, it’ll be all over. If someone had been watching, things really would’ve been all over. She’s very lucky that no one caught us, otherwise there’d be hell to pay...