Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note nor any of the characters contained therein.

Summary: The slightest variation in choices can make all the difference. L knew there was a 2nd Death Note. Finding even part of it could be a turning point . . . Slight AU; rated T to be safe. NOTE: there will be a little bit of Namikawa/Mido eventually, so you've been warned. ^_^ Spoilers through the end of the series.

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Turn of the 8th Day

Chapter 1: First Turn

Intro

Seven days. Seven days since "Kira" was caught. Seven days since Higuchi died right in front of us. Though there are two Kiras, I sense but one will. The steps I take now are necessary, even if they become my last. This will be the day upon which everything will turn. The 8th day. And I will use these deeds as a lever on a fulcrum.

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Needle Begging Thread

Opening the envelope, he removed the single sheet of paper with thumb and forefinger and looked deliberately around the room. No change. He slipped the paper back into the envelope and hid it away as he turned and faced the monitors again. And there it was. He only caught a glimpse of it as it passed into a wall, but there was no mistaking it. Another shinigami.

Only rarely did L enter Watari's observation room, but it had become a necessity of late. The Task Force members were more of a burden than a help since catching Higuchi, and he needed the occasional thing done without even their inexpert eyes observing him. Things like having Wedy secretly install cameras in Misa's apartment with a secure feed directly to Watari's station and one other hidden for L's use only. Things like having Wedy search for and steal a blank piece of paper that had been hidden in that apartment for no outwardly discernable reason. L knew Wedy liked the thrill of breaking in and stealing things, though this had been no real challenge for her. He also knew that she always wore gloves, since she did not leave fingerprints behind. Watari was the only one who knew why L wanted the paper and what he intended to do with it.

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Into the Eye

The zipline was set up by that evening. L had allowed Wedy to think it was for Aiber's use. Smirking a bit at how little he resembled Aiber as he pulled on a blond wig, L reflected that he might have been better off using Aiber for this after all. He wanted as few people involved as possible, however, so he was excluding him. For now. He also wanted some first-hand involvement, considering the new information's potential impact on the case. L put on the heavy coat and the special gloves, forcing himself to stand fully upright before exiting the room, cameras be damned, and heading for the roof.

Wind buffeted him as he walked out onto the rooftop, pushing him in several directions at once like the ghosts of recalcitrant children, all with separate keening demands. He swayed there, breathing crisp night air, allowing himself to forget for a moment why he was there, what he was taking on. Shaking himself, L walked toward the edge. He had never done this before, and though he understood the basic principles and had anticipated the wind, he had not expected to be intimidated. L was not afraid of heights, nor did he back down from a challenge, but the thin line descending into the night . . . He knew it would be strong enough to hold him, and he trusted Wedy's skills in setting it up, but knowing something was not the same as feeling something. Useless distractions, he thought, flexing his gloved hands before crouching to grip the metal sliding mechanism. The line felt secure when he pulled on it. L took a deep breath as his dark eyes probed the gloom and jumped feet first into darkness.

He had intended to slow himself down by lowering his legs and spreading them out to create more wind resistance, but the wall came up on him more quickly than he'd expected. It had been like flying, or falling, if at an incline. Luckily, he bent his knees in time to cushion his landing – dealing with a broken ankle or worse would have been less than convenient.

As planned, L disconnected the bottom end of the zipline where it was attached to the penthouse wall, removing the sliding device so that it wouldn't bash against his own building after he let go. He was grateful that there had been a penthouse apartment on a neighboring building, as scrambling to get on top of another building while the wind pulled at him was unappealing. L fingered the penthouse key in his pocket, which Watari had just that day obtained by subletting the apartment for a week under a pseudonym. Wedy had already checked for cameras and wiretaps in and out of the penthouse, so L shuffled unconcernedly to the door, opening it and entering the luxurious yet somehow generic space.

Clear of the windows, L removed the wig, scratching his head as he tossed it near the duffel bag he was approaching. He dropped the coat and sliding device and squatted on the floor, pulling the bag out from under a table and unzipping it, grimacing slightly at the clothes he would be wearing. Blending would be important, so he would have to sacrifice some comfort. He disrobed, crouching in a strange foyer, swapping one disguise for another. L sighed as he faced having to wear yet another pair of uncomfortable shoes, steeling himself for the long walk before dawn.

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Interruption

"OK Ryuk, I'm taking my shower now, so you better not look!"

The shinigami rolled his bulging eyes. "Jeez, for the millionth time, I'm not gonna look!" He shook his massive head and ate the last of his apple. "It's not like I could do anything about it anyway . . ." he mumbled through apple bits.

"What?"

"Nothing! Just take your stupid shower so we can do something today – I'm so bored." Ryuk slumped back on Misa's pink fluffy bed, looking incongruous with her myriad stuffed animals, even the scarred ones with black hair. A sliver of sun managed to sneak its way past surrounding buildings and pierced Misa's window. Ryuk followed the finger of light upward with his eyes and saw something unexpected. A tiny glint, a flicker – a reflection?

Ryuk leapt up and poked his head into the ceiling, phasing right through it, where he beheld a camera. His cackle might have been audible to Misa if he had not been face-deep in drywall and insulation. "That L must be up to his old tricks! I wonder if I should tell her . . ." Ryuk mulled it over. "It could be more interesting if I don't . . . Eh, I'll wait and see."

Popping his head back out of the ceiling and plopping back down on the bed, Ryuk made himself comfortable again. He looked lazily around the room for a few moments, wondering if there were any more cameras. He was just deciding to head to the kitchen for another apple when he heard a knock at the door. Curious, he moved toward the front room, undecided as to whether to yell for Misa, if only for the amusement of interrupting her shower.

A note was abruptly thrust under the door as Ryuk watched. He peered closely at it and read "Shinigami. We must speak. Join me in the hallway."

"What the? You gotta be kidding me." Ryuk made a grab for the note and found it yanked away before he could touch it. Grumbling, he peeked through the peephole and saw a rather nondescript businessman wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, hair slicked back under his hat. He was taking a step back as he flipped his cellphone closed, mouth a thin line, as though he expected someone to step toward him. He was shoving the note into his pants pocket. Ryuk frowned, then grinned. "This could be interesting, or not. Let's see how he likes this!"

Ryuk stuck just his head through the door, grinning toothily, looking for all the world like a huge grotesque door knocker or a forgotten Halloween decoration, and he began laughing maniacally.

The businessman looked unimpressed. "I don't have time for games. Follow me if you want to know more, shinigami." He turned on his heel and walked stiffly away from Ryuk.

"Aw, c'mon! Don't be such a spoilsport, sheesh!" Ryuk thought the man's voice sounded oddly familiar, but couldn't quite place it. The hat and sunglasses together were enough to prevent him from seeing the man's name and lifespan, so he clearly knew something about shinigami. The man entered the elevator down the hall, almost as though it had been waiting for him. As Ryuk was about to pull back into Misa's apartment, he saw a single hand extend from the elevator – holding an apple. And then it was yanked back and the elevator doors closed.

Shaking his head, Ryuk turned and surveyed the kitchen. I have apples here!, he thought. One apple from some random guy isn't gonna get me to leave! And yet, the fact that the stranger had known enough to tempt him with an apple was interesting to him. Who, other than Light and Misa, knew he liked those? Considering his increasing boredom, Ryuk's decision became easy.

Extending his wings, Ryuk phased and flew straight through the outer wall, swooping into the air like a vulture on holiday. He looked down in time to see the man exit the front of the building. He dove, intending to buzz him from above, but the man crisply turned the corner, evading Ryuk while seemingly unaware of his presence. The man turned another corner and walked toward a tiny square with a fountain nestled at the back of Misa's building. Sitting down on a bench, he looked like any other businessman who might be waiting for a ride to work, getting a few calls in or checking his email as he sat. Ryuk hesitated nearby as the man placed his cellphone to his ear and began speaking.

"You didn't expect me to speak to you in public without at least appearing to be occupied with a phone call, did you, shinigami?"

Ryuk laughed, settling in front of him. "That's more like it. Now where's that apple?"

"In a moment. I had to step up my approach to you when you found my camera." Inclining his head, the man pierced Ryuk with a dark look over his sunglasses and everything snapped into place.

"Holy crap, you're L!" Ryuk goggled for a moment before erupting in fresh peals of laughter. "Who knew you could stand up straight or even sit like a regular person? I knew this would be interesting."

"Hm, yes, interesting is one word for it." L continued to speak into the cell, confirming to himself that he had indeed been seen by this shinigami before. "And what shall I call you?"

"Heh, the name's Ryuk."

"Greetings then, Ryuk. Misa is occupied, I gather?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, she'll be in the shower awhile – she always takes forever." Ryuk suddenly looked surprised. "Hey, I just remembered – you know about the apple thing because of that note that, um . . . those prisoners wrote."

L looked up sharply at what Ryuk had nearly said. "You mean the coded message the prisoners were forced to write by Kira, otherwise known as Light Yagami?"

"I wouldn't know anything about that." Ryuk's grin couldn't have seemed less innocent. "You didn't really think you could interrogate me, did you?"

"Of course not. I came to bargain with you."

L watched Ryuk laugh even harder than before and suppressed a smile of his own. It was clear that while Ryuk wasn't stupid, he certainly wasn't on Light's level, and he didn't seem allied with Light or anyone else. I can work with this, L thought. He had no intention of truly bargaining for anything, however – he just needed to distract Ryuk and possibly get some information out of him in the process. He didn't have much time, from what he could tell, so he got right to the point.

"I would like a Death Note of my own." L looked at Ryuk appraisingly as the shinigami turned around, no longer doubled over in laughter.

"Ha! What, do you think they grow on trees? I can't just give you one!"

"Why not? You gave one to Li- I mean, Kira." L's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Am I somehow unworthy?"

"Who says anyone but a shinigami is worthy? Anyway, I didn't give it to anyone – I dropped it, and someone picked it up, simple as that."

"Are all shinigami so clumsy?" L kept his eyes fixed on Ryuk as he tried to hold his cell normally.

"Heh heh – who said it was an accident?" Ryuk's grin widened as he moved his face closer to L's. "I dropped it on purpose."

"Because you wanted something interesting to happen." L's tone was flat.

"Yeah – I was bored, so what? Humans are nothing to me."

"Nothing but entertainment, in any event." L used the disdain in his voice to mask his excitement. I can use this, he thought. "As well as a source of apples, I suppose."

"Hey c'mon, are you gonna gimme the apple or what? You're not my only source, you know. Maybe I'll just fly back up and tell Misa about your little camera, then eat some of her apples!"

L sighed and shifted his cell to his right hand, pulling the apple out of his jacket pocket with his left. When Ryuk lunged for it, he pulled it closer to his chest. "If you want to eat it, we will have to make it look as if I am eating it."

Ryuk looked dumbstruck. "But there's no one around!"

"On the contrary, there are three women waiting for a bus on the far side of this fountain, and two men waiting to cross the street toward us. Also, there are the inevitable security cameras on the back entrance of this building behind us and in the jewelry store across the street – those are the most obvious ones, in any event."

"Well how am I supposed to eat the apple and make it look like you are?" Ryuk sputtered. "It's impossible."

L explained as though to a small child. "You will get behind this bench near my left shoulder. I will hold the apple close to my face and turn as if to take a bite. You will bite the apple instead. The angle of this bench is such that my head will block the cameras when the bite is taken and no one else will see it. We will have to time this so that the men about to cross the street are not close to us when this occurs."

"Wow, you . . . really planned this out." Ryuk looked at L as though he was an alien creature. L was quite used to this look.

"Don't be absurd. I merely took note of the camera angles and people as I chose my seat. Ready?" L held the apple next to his left cheek.

"What if I get too close and bite you instead?" Ryuk licked one of the many shark-like teeth jutting from his jaw.

"I doubt you'd do that. I don't taste like an apple, and if you happened to rip out my throat by 'accident' you'd just become bored again." L waited. "Light's about to turn."

Ryuk followed L's eyes to the traffic light at the corner. "OK, fine." In a swift motion, Ryuk swept behind L and took a bite of the apple just as L turned his head toward it. L did not flinch, and Ryuk was able to take more bites and finish the apple by the time the two men had crossed the street and were about to pass them. It was still early, and the streets were not yet packed with commuters.

"Now, don't you think it would be more entertaining if I had a Death Note as well?" L had no intention of letting this drop, choreographed apple-eating or not.

"I already told you, I can't just give you one. It doesn't matter if it would be entertaining or not!" Ryuk shook his head dismissively.

"But a Death Note is a shinigami's tool, is it not?"

"Well duh, what of it?"

"And a shinigami without a Death Note would be incomplete, though only temporarily, yes?"

"Hey, forget it – there's no way I'm giving you my—" Ryuk stopped, seeming to realize what L had gotten him to say.

L's smile held an innocence that was belied by the predatory glee in his eyes. "So, you have your own Death Note as well as the one you gave to . . . Kira." L snorted softly as his smile evaporated. "Apparently they do grow on trees."

"Alright smart guy, I'm done talking. If you want a Death Note so bad, use the one in your office – yeah that's right, I know about that one too." Ryuk's defensiveness amused L.

"I'm not interested in that one."

"Why not?"

L pulled his sunglasses down his nose and looked Ryuk squarely in the eye. "Rem is nowhere near as intriguing as you."

Ryuk hovered, staring, still apparently undecided about whether to leave. "Huh. So I guess you're bored too, then?"

"So it would appear."

"I still can't give you a Death Note."

"You must have obtained a second one somehow."

"Yeah, that trick's not gonna work twice."

"Rem also apparently obtained a second one. Did she do it the same way you did?"

"Eh, I dunno. Try asking her." Ryuk shrugged.

"You say that as if I haven't already."

Ryuk's eyes glittered as he remembered exactly how Rem had obtained the Death Note she'd given to Misa. "Heh, you know . . . if you can figure out how to kill a shinigami, you can probably just take their Death Note." Ryuk chuckled. "Don't try it on me, though – I'll see it coming."

"So . . . you're telling me that shinigami can be killed? And that I should try and kill Rem?" L raised an eyebrow.

"Well, not in so many words, but hey, whatever works, right?"

"Interesting . . ." L caught himself starting to slouch and righted himself quickly.

"I gotta get back – if I'm not hanging around when Misa gets out of her shower, she'll wonder where I was. She keeps telling me not to peek at her in there – she doesn't believe me when I say I couldn't care less!"

"Mm, I am finding that hard to comprehend as well." L's head tilted slightly.

"Ugh, shinigami don't get feelings like that – we don't have sex!" Ryuk looked as surprised to have said that as L was to have heard it. "I mean, uh . . ."

"That would be incredibly convenient – much fewer distractions. And yet," L touched his chin, stopping just short of putting his thumb to his mouth, "I can understand where that might leave you very, very bored."

"Yeah, no kidding." Ryuk started to lift off the ground, wings extending.

"Come find me when she's asleep, or showering again. And avoid Light, of course."

There was no doubt in L's voice as he called up to Ryuk, cell still pressed to his ear. Ryuk found himself admiring his chutzpah and suddenly wondered if L had also placed a camera in Misa's bathroom. Chortling to himself, Ryuk shouted down "I gotta stay near her, so maybe I'll see you when she visits you!"

Not waiting for a response, Ryuk flew straight up and then curved to phase right through the building, passing through several rooms in a flurry before arriving back in Misa's apartment – only to discover she was talking to him.

"Ryuuuuuk! C'mon, which should I wear, the stripey ones or the lacey ones?" Misa poked her toweled head out of the bathroom door and pointed at the stockings she'd draped over her dresser earlier.

"I dunno – wear both or go naked, see if I care!" Ryuk phased as Misa threw a bottle of lotion at his head.

"Pervert!"

"Whatever – I'm so bored." Ryuk hid his grin from Misa. Looks like things are getting good again, he thought.

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Author's Note: Hi there! Ahem. SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER. OK, remember how in the manga and the anime there seemed to be about 2 or 3 days between the death of Higuchi and the deaths of Watari, L, and Rem? Well, I noticed that the timeline in Death Note: How to Read 13 listed 8 days between those occurrences. Eight whole days! Whether one considers HTR13 canon or not, I decided to take advantage of the longer timeline and use it as sort of a launching point for this fanfic (my first, actually). My initial goal when I started this fic was to have my two favorite characters, L and Ryuk, have a conversation. Having done that, I've discovered some additional goals, so . . . more to come! And thanks for tuning in.

Supplemental Note: I am going through and reposting these chapters because all of the section breaks got taken out. Sorry if the new breaks are oogly.