Hey guys! This story is about 60% for fun and 40% as a writing exercise I made for myself. I'm basically trying to improve my script writing through this fanfic. I'm trying to work on writing character-driven stories. I'm basically coming up with ideas that I think could have happened to Light, Misa, Matsuda, Ryuk etc. during this 4 year break and figuring out what would happen based off of what I've gathered about their characters through the canon.

With that being said, the stories will range from very light comedy to very dark angst and even some character study drabbles, depending on the situation I've concocted. For your sake, I'll place the genre and any warnings for each chapter alongside the title. Note that this is for improving my script writing and I realize most of my scenic descriptions are not the best, so any advice for improvement would be much appreciated! So, without further ado, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. Shocking, I know.

[Comedy] Chapter 1 – "Neighbors"

There was something wrong with the neighbors.

This much Mako had decided. Ever since they officially moved in a couple of weeks ago, he could tell that something was off. At first it was a gut feeling, an instinct. He was an older man and had just retired from being a social therapist, so one could say he obtained a natural talent for analyzing personalities. It was a blessing and a curse, he told himself. Sure at first glance, this young couple that moved in next door seemed like two normal kids in love. But he could tell that there was something that just wasn't right about the two.

Being the good neighbor he was, he wanted to formally introduce himself. He would even bring over some of his wife's famous cooking. He really wasn't even sure why he was so interested in the neighbors, maybe he was bored having so much free time to himself after retirement. Regardless he shrugged and knocked on the apartment door in front of him.

On the other side of the door he could hear the muffled excitement of what sounded to be a young girl. It almost sounded like she was talking to somebody. The door knob moved revealing a very excited looking blonde girl wearing an outfit that left very little to the imagination.

Very, very, little.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure how it could even begin to qualify as clothes. It was more like lingerie. And the frilliest lingerie he had ever seen at that. The top was what looked to be a black corset with lace bows sewn to every corner, and her bottoms consisted of a bright red thong. He honestly was so embarrassed that he looked away completely red in the face, he couldn't believe someone would even contemplate answering the door like that.

"Liiiiiiight! You're home early today!" She squealed, "You're not Light."

"No, sorry miss. I'm Mako Himron." He coughed awkwardly, still trying to avoid looking at her attire. "I'm actually your neighbor, I live in 280A and I wanted to welcome you to the area."

"Oh! How exciting!" She clapped her hands together. "My name's Misa Amane and it's so nice to meet you." She bows, "Please come, in!"

"Thank you… But, could I make a request?" Mako asked.

"Yes! Of course! Anything for my new neighbor!"

"Could you please change your outfit." He asked filled with embarrassment.

"Oh my gosh! How embarrassing, I totallyyy thought you were my boyfriend! I definitely wouldn't have worn this otherwise!" She leads him into the apartment, Mako following slowly behind. "He absolutely loves it when I wear stuff like this! Of course he loves anything I wear, really." She winks. "I'll go in the back and change, make yourself at home otherwise!"

He walks in observing the apartment; it was completely empty, which seemed strange because he could have sworn he'd heard her talking to somebody. The apartment itself had a similar layout to his own. A living room and kitchen connected together in the same room. It had balcony behind glass doors to the far left of the room and a small hallway leading to a bathroom, bedroom, and a stairway upstairs to the far right.

He made his way to a small loveseat tilted just enough so that he could see the kitchen counter. The counter had a plethora of groceries placed on top of it. Usually, he would have thought nothing of it, but almost half of the groceries seemed to consist of apples.

"I'm back!" Sorry about before!" She said cheerily making her way over to a tan suede couch placed adjacent to the loveseat Mako was occupying.

He honestly didn't understand why she even bothered changing. Her new outfit was just as revealing as the last one. No, actually. Scratch that. The only difference is that she put a tiny leather miniskirt on over her thong. He sighed to himself. At least she was trying.

"Is that for me!?" she pointed excitedly at the dish Mako forgot he was carrying.

"Oh, yes it is actually. It's a welcome gift from me and my wife." He said handing it over to the girl.

"How precious! I can't wait to tell Light about this! He'll be so excited." She continues taking the tray to the counter. "I can't wait for you to meet him! He's the most amazing man in the world!" She walks back to the couch and sits. "And he just adores me, really he does. You know the other day, I caught him just staring at me! And when I called him out on it he turned BRIGHT red! Isn't that just adorable? I think it's just the cutest thing."

It was official.

This girl never stopped talking.

For at least 15 minutes she consistently droned on and on about how amazing her boyfriend was. He honestly didn't even think she stopped for air. This girl couldn't be serious could she? He had experienced many different personality types over the years and hers was definitely one of the strangest. To be so blindly in love, it seemed sickening and yet admirable at the same time. Tuning out of the conversation, he looked over to the counter and saw something strange.

It was an apple.

It had fallen off the counter he had assumed. But the grocery bag was on the far left of the counter and the apple had 'fallen' off of the right side. Then, something stranger happened.

… It moved?

The apple was rolling towards the back hallway and out of his sight into the bedroom, completely of its own will. Could it have been gravity? But that made no sense. Just what the hell was going on here?

-o-o-o-o-o-

"I'm telling you Sera, it moved!"

He was now back in his safe and comfortably normal apartment next door. Both he and his wife Sera were occupying the kitchen area of the room. She was an older looking woman with a caring face and petite frame. She stood hovering over the stove cooking what looked to be some sort of soup while her husband Mako, sorted through the cabinets looking for silverware.

"I think you're just overacting dear." She said, still stirring her dish. "I think the things you said to that girl, were just awful."

"Awful? I'm a retired therapist, I told the girl exactly what she needed to hear."

-o-o-o-o-o-

"And THEN he called me, cognat-, congnativ-, cog-."

"Cognitively impaired." Light answered apathetically, while hanging up his coat.

"That! And then he said I was delusional and that I dressed too promiscuously!"

He sighed and began to walk towards the couch. She followed him, continuing her rant. "Do you know what that means!? He called me a street walker!"

Ryuk began cackling in the background and Light eyed him suspiciously. But, decided it was best to ignore him right now. He turned back to Misa, placing both of his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sure he didn't mean what he said and this is all some sort of misunderstanding." He said, now leaving her and walking towards the kitchen area.

She gasped horrified, stepping forward. "You're defending him!? I thought I was the love of your life!?"

He began rummaging through the cabinets. "I'm not defending him. All I'm saying is that it's important for us to appear like a normal couple to the neighbors. I don't want there to be any hostility, it could cause problems for us in the future." He turned around from the cabinet placing an empty glass on the kitchen counter. "So, I've made arrangements."

-o-o-o-o-o-

"You, WHAT?" Mako yelled.

"I agreed to have dinner with them tomorrow night. You're coming too." She said turning her head back towards him. "I talked to that young man who lives there over the phone. He was just the sweetest thing." She began ladling the soup into two separate bowls. "Very well-mannered too."

Although angry, Mako massaged his temples and cleared his head. "Well at least now you can see what I'm talking about. There is definitely something wrong with the neighbors."

-o-o-o-o-o-

His plan was perfect.

Light was certain of this. The apartment was spotless, the food was prepared, the Death Note was hidden, and Misa was dressed in the most conservative outfit Light could possibly find in his mother's wardrobe.

Just as planned.

By the end of tonight, the neighbors would be assured that him and Misa were nothing more than a normal deliriously happy couple.

He heard a knock coming from the other side of the door.

"Now honey, please try to be considerate." Sera asked quietly.

Mako grumbled in response.

The older couple saw the door in front of them crack slightly revealing a well-dressed young adult known none other than Light Yagami, a hard working university student with one of the highest marks in the country. Or at least that's what he would convince them of.

"Welcome, it's so great to finally meet you." Light managed to produce the most genuine looking fake smile he could muster. "Please come in, make yourself at home. My name is Light Yagami and this is my girlfriend, Misa."

The couple stood in bewilderment of the young girl standing before them. It was absolutely nothing like what Mako had described to Sera earlier. Mako was now even more confused and quite frankly, just plain weirded out by the whole situation.

This girl was dressed like a hooker the other night. But now she was wearing a hideous beige colored two-piece dress suit, with a matching cream turtleneck underneath and thick tights behind a ruffled skirt that practically reached her ankles. The outfit looked like it belonged on an overweight middle-aged woman attending a 9:00am church service. The outfit covered every inch of her body with the exception of her head.

Just as planned.

"I think I own that sweater." Sera mumbled to Mako.

The girl was obviously uncomfortable in her new choice of wardrobe and would continuously scratch her neck on the inside of her sweater. "Well hello, there Mr. and Mrs. Himron it's so wonderful to see you here." She bowed politely.

This was seriously getting stranger every second.

The previous night she practically yelled every word that came out of her mouth with massive enthusiasm and today she sounded like monotone robot reading a script.

Mako noticed the girl look behind him and his wife nodding to her boyfriend behind them. He looked back and saw the young man nod in return with an extremely serious face.

What the hell was going on here?

Was he seriously feeding her lines?

"Alright!" The young man's deathly glare disappeared in almost an instant. "Now that we have introductions out of the way, feel free to sit down. Dinner should be ready any minute."

Both couples sat down around the TV, as Mako began to feel that he was about to experience one of the most uncomfortable dinners of his life.

"I hate to think that Mr. Himron and Misa got off on the wrong foot. I was really hoping that we could all become friends." Light began.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Sera began. "You don't have to hang around a couple of old people like us. We understand that you two are young and want to go out and do your own thing."

"Thanks for your concern, but I disagree." He pauses. "I'd love to talk to both of you and learn from your past life experiences. You're so much older and wiser. I still have a lot to learn." He throws her a charismatic smile.

Sera squeaks in approval of his charming answer. "Well, how thoughtful of you. I think you're very wise for your age."

"Why, thank you Mrs. Himron." He replied endearingly.

Misa moved as if she was about to add something to the conversation, but Light placed a tight grip of on her leg and shot her a quick look of disapproval. This of course did not go unnoticed by Mr. Himron.

This man was absolutely terrifying.

Based off of the conversation he had with Misa the previous night Mako was expecting her "lover" to be equally as airheaded as her, but this guy seemed like some sort of multiple personality puppet-master pulling the poor girl's heart strings.

He was beginning to feel bad for her.

"Well, I wouldn't worry yourself too much about the whole situation. My husband just got spooked because he thought he saw a ghost."

Misa almost choked on her drink.

"A ghost, you say?" Light began, malice covering every corner of his voice. "Now what could possibly have made him think that?" He looked behind his shoulder abruptly with a glare that could kill.

What was he looking at? The lamp?

"Oh, I don't remember exactly." Sera began looking towards Mako. "Didn't you say it was an apple dear?"

He nodded.

"Oh yes, that's right! He told me an apple moved all the way from the kitchen counter to the bedroom all by itself. Isn't that funny?" As she spoke, Light got up from his seat moving towards the kitchen. She giggled. "I told him his eyes must've been playing tricks on him or something."

Light reached into the stove taking some sort of meat dish out of the oven. "Yes, that's right." He set the dish on the counter. "That's absolutely ridiculous." He picks up a knife from a drawer. "Whatever it was, I'm sure it will never happen again." He said stabbing the meat with the earlier mentioned knife before cutting it.

Mako could have sworn he was staring directly at the lamp in front of the glass balcony doors when he said that.

Misa giggled quietly looking behind her shoulder looking towards the lamp too.

WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON? WHY WERE THEY TALKING TO A LAMP?

He decided he didn't know.

At this point, he didn't want to know.

With the exception of his apology to Misa he remained quiet and polite the rest of the night.

But, he wouldn't forget what had happened here.

The awkward glances, the supernatural apple, and overall strange bi-polar personality traits presented by both individuals.

Yes.

He had officially decided.

There was definitely something wrong with the neighbors.

End.

End note: Light has awful taste in women's clothing. I guess that's more of a head-canon than anything, but I'm sure I gathered it from the canon somewhere.

This actually ended up being a bit longer than I originally thought. I hope you guys enjoyed it though! The narrative for Mako was super fun to write, I think I made him a little too smart for his own good haha.

If you have any questions, compliments, complaints, criticism, or overall opinions, then feel free to review!