Disclaimer: I own neither xXxholic or Death Note, nor am I profiting from them. I'm sure either CLAMP or Tsugumi Ohba would use their combined evil powers to track me down if this were the case, and I don't think anyone wants to risk meeting the mind behind Death Note in a dark alley.
Warning: Spoilers! Please don't read if you haven't seen to the end of the first arc or read V7 of the manga. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then assume it is not safe! Also, PG-13.
Author's Note: Just wanted to write an xXxholic and Death Note crossover. There's not really that much of an epic story here, more the tale of a brief encounter. Posted in the xXxholic section seeing as more people in this fandom will have read Death Note rather than vice versa. Probably isn't the first one – these two series seemed to work well together. Either way, I have a stack of plot bunnies that need excising, and writing them seems to be the only way to effectively crush them.
This crossover will be four short parts, about 1,500 words each. I'm not trying to do anything fancy with this. There's no particular plot. Just wanted to write it was all. I hope you enjoy it.
Addicted to Death
Chapter One – The Boy on the Train
By Sinnatious
Light Yagami did not consider himself a superstitious person. His world was ruled by logic, and magic and folk tales were not something he concerned himself with. Fortune tellers, ouija boards and exorcisms were, he felt, things that may have had some unrelated relevance and purpose in ancient times but held no place in modern society other than as vehicles for the manipulating the extremely gullible. Of course, now he spent his days being followed by a Death God, who by his notions of science and logic shouldn't exist. He'd never really had time to consider too deeply whether that meant ghosts or other spirits existed as most of the times he'd questioned Ryuk on such matters the queries had either been met by a shrug or the superstition had been totally debunked, so those thoughts hadn't been followed any further.
That was until the day he met the boy on the train.
He'd been enjoying a position of security since L's demise and was cruising through his final year of university whilst simultaneously playing the parts of Kira and L. The rest of the investigative team had complete faith in him now, and while more people knew of the Death Note than he'd prefer, the situation was safely under control. Already he sensed society changing - crime was at an all-time low and still dropping, and more and more people were coming to see Kira as a God. His plan was years in the making but it was pleasing to see the slow improvements. With the thorn that was L removed from his side, he was rather enjoying himself. So when stepping onto the train to head to the home after classes, he'd been unsettled when he'd felt a pressing stare on the back of his neck.
Light was used to people staring at him from time to time - he knew that his clean-cut appearance was attractive, and his notoriety at his University meant that either jealous or appreciative gazes followed him almost everywhere he went. That sort of scrutiny was standard. This feeling, however, was one he hadn't truly experienced since L's death.
Taking one of the empty seats - he'd finished classes early enough to miss rush hour for once - he made to rifle through his bag as he quietly addressed his invisible companion. "Hey, Ryuk, anyone looking this way?"
"Why should I tell you if there is?" came the belligerent reply.
"Apples."
The shinigami heaved a sigh, and started looking around the compartment. He hadn't been looking for more than a second when the Death God froze. Light glanced over, curious.
"Oh, it's him," Ryuk muttered, staring.
"Him?"
Ryuk didn't reply.
Cautiously, so as not to draw any undue attention to himself, Light followed the Death God's gaze, making sure to make his eyes wander so that he didn't alarm his watcher by zeroing in on their location unnaturally. He was surprised then to meet the blue-eyed gaze of a high school student, who was making absolutely no effort to hide the fact that he was staring at him.
The boy was almost sickly pale, and had sharp blue cat-like eyes that he hid behind thin wire-framed glasses. He was wearing a traditional public school uniform, and was rather well kept, but all in all there didn't seem to be much to set him apart from any other high school student that caught the train. Light racked his brain to try and recall if he'd come across him before, but knew it was fruitless. He had an excellent memory for names and faces - something that had been an enormous help in his work as Kira - and he definitely knew he would remember someone with such pale blue eyes; it was an unusual colour in Tokyo.
That ruled out any agency tailing him. For one, agencies usually chose their field agents so that they didn't stand out from the crowd, and for another a professional would at least make an effort to hide the fact that they were watching the target - even if it was by doing something as simple as reading a newspaper or writing a message on a phone. Was it possibly the friend or family member of one of Kira's victims? Light was aware that though he killed criminals, even criminals sometimes had friends and family that would miss them. Though if such a person had managed to track him down without external resources, they were quite possibly even a bigger threat than what L had been.
Ryuk took a few steps forward towards the boy, and to Light's surprise - or perhaps 'horror' would have been the better word – those pale blue eyes shifted to stare at the Death God instead.
This boy could SEE Ryuk? That shouldn't be possible!
He tensed, waiting for a reaction, but none came. There was a definite air of wariness and caution in the teen's posture, but not the horrified screech, or at the very least some sort of surprised jerk, that was to be expected. Even the unflappable Ryuuzaki had been temporarily struck dumb when he'd touched Rem's Death Note and seen a shinigami for the first time. He himself, even after expecting it, had fallen out his chair when Ryuk first presented himself. Death Gods weren't the most pleasant or friendly-looking creatures, after all. But this high school student didn't seem perturbed in the slightest. He either had nerves of steel or had seen Shinigami before.
Light closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wanted to believe that perhaps it was just a coincidence - that the stranger was looking through Ryuk to some advertisement on the side of the train, but given the way his eyes were flicking back and forth between the two of them there was no doubt that the stranger could see Ryuk and had accurately picked up on the connection between the two of them.
Brown eyes fell on the stranger's book bag, and he was gratified to see neat kanji scrawled on the side. 'Kimihiro Watanuki'. Spelled like April 1st. An unusual name. It was sorely tempting to withdraw one of the pieces of Death Note he kept on himself for emergencies and dispose of the high schooler then and there, but he wanted more information first. How could this kid see Ryuk, for one? Why hadn't he been surprised? Why did he seem less afraid of a shinigami than of a college student? He had to orchestrate an introduction. A great deal of information could be gathered from even a few sentences.
The next station was announced, and the teen tore his eyes away from them as though suddenly remembering where he was. Hurriedly, the blue-eyed youth gathered his things and made his way to the doors. Light very casually stood up as well, making his way to the exit with Ryuk lumbering after him. It was two stops earlier than the intended disembarking point, but there would be another train passing through in fifteen minutes he could hope back on to.
The train pulled up to the station, and the youth stepped through the door, Light having to walk quickly in order to make it out in time. However, the high school student had stopped right outside the door to look back into the train, and Light had to sidestep suddenly to avoid bowling him over.
The real surprise, though, was when the boy named Watanuki recoiled and gagged as they brushed shoulders.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, lacing concern into his voice and placing a hand on the youth's left shoulder.
The teen jerked away as though the hand burned him, breathing growing laboured. Confused, Light withdrew a couple of steps, and was surprised to see the youth recover almost immediately; breathing growing even as he brushed himself off and stood upright. Light reached out again, but Watanuki stepped back just out of arm's length.
"Please, it's nothing personal, but... please don't touch me."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to intrude," he responded, growing puzzled. It seemed like his very touch made the youth unbearably sick, but that in itself didn't make any sense.
"I have to go! Excuse me!" the teen blurted, practically tripped over his own feet as he scrambled away, eyes darting back to Ryuk again as he made his escape. The college student didn't follow, shoving his hands casually into his pockets as he watched the other's flight.
"You just going to let him go, Light?" the Death God asked.
"He won't be going far. Let's go, Ryuk." Light made his way to the street, waving down a taxi instead of bothering to wait for the next train as he'd originally planned.
When he arrived home a few minutes later, the apartment was dark. Misa was still out working, apparently. That suited him fine – useful as she was, it was harder to concentrate when she was hanging off his arm complaining about how little she got to see him. Honestly – what did the woman expect? He was juggling his college career with being both Kira and L. At least Misa did the lion's share of the judging these days, freeing him up to concentrate on finishing university and keeping all suspicion away from the two of them. Combing the world of criminals to judge might have been just, but it was terribly time consuming.
Shrugging out of his jacket, Light immediately retrieved the Death Note and sat down at his desk, pen poised to write on the page. That high school student had been able to see Ryuk, which in itself should have been an impossibility. Ryuk's cryptic comments hadn't made him relax, either. Even if the kid hadn't committed a crime, he and Misa couldn't risk being suspected as Kira again. He'd kill him off in an accident so that no one would be likely to link it to Kira. The sooner, the better.
Light paused, though, as the pen met paper. There was something weird about that boy. For one, his name included the kanji for 'four', and as such was associated with 'death'. Even if it was written as April 1st, it was rather rare to find anyone sporting a name containing such an unlucky character.
He laid the pen down again. Kimihiro Watanuki.
"Things might get interesting for a few days again, Ryuk."
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