Raito fumbled with his keys for a moment before stepping into his apartment. Whistling, he made his way into the kitchen for a snack. He paused as he opened the refrigerator. He was in an oddly good mood.

He smiled.

Of course he was. He had just had one of the best conversations of his life. It wasn't every day that Raito met his intellectual equal. Pulling out a soda and grabbing a bag of chips, he wandered into the living room and flopped gracefully onto the couch. He dragged his messenger bag over and reached inside for the letters that he had received from one of his contacts. He scanned the top letter, before tossing it nonchalantly towards the wastepaper basket. He never understood what his contacts didn't understand about the word evil. Light killed evil people.

People who deserved it.

After sorting through the political garbage and petty disagreements, Raito had two legitimate hits. Sighing, he stood and stretched. He grabbed the discarded letters, shoved them through the shredder in one bored motion, and headed up to his bedroom. Today had been a long and productive day. He needed a few more hours of sleep.

Then, he would get back to work.

L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L

Light crouched moodily on the cold stone floor. In his opinion, stakeouts were the worst kind of hits. He had crept into this house through a hidden storm window hours ago. The window was obscured by some abundant shrubbery, so Light wasn't too afraid about the tiny hole in it being noticed. What he did mind was being stuck in this chilly basement, catching his death because this pathetic businessman had decided to work late.

Marcus Sabo was a dirty businessman in the northern United States. In the past few years, he had negotiated many underhanded deals with local gangs, been accused of insurance fraud, as well as been involved in a rape scandal which had been quickly hushed up. After deep investigation, Light has virtually no doubt that Sabo was guilty.

Finally, Light heard the sound of a car pulling up. Glancing quickly out of the storm window with his mirror, he confirmed that it was Sabo. He was alone. Light waited until he heard the door slam, and a few minutes later, heard water running.

Perfect.

Humans are creatures of habit. Some wake up the same time every day, some brushed their hair a certain number of times. Some always put the left shoe on first. It just so happened that every evening, when Marcus Sabo got home from work, he took a luxurious bubble bath. For the last week, Sabo hadn't missed a single bath.

Habits were dangerous. Habits meant that you were predictable, and when you were predictable, people could make plans around you. Light had made one himself.

Light crept up the stairs of the basement, listening at the door briefly before opening it softly. Thankfully, it hadn't been locked. Obviously, Sabo had assumed that the basement was not an entryway. He had apparently forgotten the storm window existed. Fool.

Stepping into the kitchen, Light listened carefully. Sure enough, there were sounds of heavy footsteps and gentle music overhead. Sabo was getting ready to get in the bath. Light crossed quickly to the other side of the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and carefully selected two apples. Sabo loved apples.

Rounding the island countertop, Light slid down the hallway and to the bottom of a flight of creaky stairs. By now, the sound of Beethoven's Fifth could be heard loud and clear from above. Light smiled. How fitting.

The loud music allowed Light to make it up the creaky staircase without Sabo being alerted to his presence. He stealthily crept down the hall and lowered his eye to the crack of the bathroom door. Sabo lounged in the tub, bubbles mercifully covering everything below his ponderous gut, eyes closed.

This would take grace.

Light had successfully greased the hinges of this particular door yesterday, so he would be able to easily open it without disturbing Sabo. Here was the hard part. He had to get close enough to Sabo without his prey jumping up and out of the tub. He took a large, silent breath. Making sure Sabo's eyes were still closed, he silently opened the door and took fast, careful steps toward the tub. He was only a few feet from Sabo before the man's eyes flashed open. They swung to meet Light's, widening.

Light knocked the radio into the tub.

It might not have killed him, except for the fact that Light had also tampered a bit with the radio the day before. A little break in the wire insulation allowed the wire to touch both the water, and Sabo's legs. Instantly, Sabo began to jerk. A few moments later, he was dead. Light carefully unplugged the radio from the wall socket. Not only did he not want the police to get electrocuted, but he didn't want them to mistake this for a suicide or an accident. The whole world needed to know that criminals got what they deserved. Plus, he had another little teaser for the detectives. He walked over to the body, checking the pulse. Dead as a doornail. Smiling, Light gently pushed the apple from the kitchen into Sabo's mouth, a suckling pig with its own symbol of sin.

Turning away from the corpse, Light let himself out of the house the way he came in. A few minutes later, he was strolling towards home, chewing on a large bite from his own apple.