Nori, for all intents and purposes, craved intimacy. It didn't matter if it was given to her by family, friends or lovers. She just loved it. Though, she was self-aware enough to know that it was because all humans ultimately craved a certain level of intimacy.
With that being said, Nori also enjoyed some alone time sometimes. The problem was that lately, both Sayu and Light seemed to make it a point to monopolize her free time. It was either Sayu following her like a lost puppy or Light persistently asking her to help him practice tennis. She sucked at tennis. Ask her to hold her breath underwater and she can do it for a whooping six minutes.
That was when Sayu and Light tried being subtle at least. When Sayu was being blatant, Nori often found herself braiding Sayu's hair, helping Sayu with homework that Nori knew damn well that Sayu could do, attending Sayu's martial arts lessons with her and even putting up with Sayu crawling into her bed at night. If Nori was in a particularly bad mood, she would kick Sayu out of bed. As it stood, Nori didn't really care most of the time.
When Light, on the other hand, was being blatant, he took to attending her swim meetings. He took to staring at her when she was reading, on her computer or doing chores. He braided her hair. He would lounge around in her bed while reading or making homework. He made her go to the library to pick up books no eight year old should even comprehend much less read. If Light was in a weird mood, he would ask her to sing or read a book to him. (Honestly, eight out of ten times she'd forget that Light was… well Light Yagami.)
Honestly, Nori never knew it would be such a hassle to have little siblings. She also never expected Light to be so attached to her. Had he been that way to Sayu in Death Note too? It could explain why that Sayu was such a bro-con. Then again, Light probably took to spending the minimal time needed with someone to stay in their good graces.
"Onee-sama!"
Light's head shifted on her lap causing her to pause from where she had been idly running her fingers through Light's hair. It was unfair that his hair was softer than hers. Little merde.
"Be nice," she chided in amusement.
The minuscule, barely noticeable, scowl that Light wore evaporated into his usual face. His face was now neutral.
"She's loud."
Rolling her eyes, Nori lifted her head just in time to see Sayu appear at the door of the living room. The beaming smile Sayu had faltered slightly at the sight of Light's head resting on her lap, but she shouldered on.
"I finished my homework all on my own!"
Nori couldn't quite decide if the expectant and hopeful look Sayu had was pathetic or endearing. Nori smiled a little anyways.
"I'm proud of you, imouto-chan," she easily complimented while brushing her fingers through Light's hair as a warning to not make any jabs at Sayu while the girl was present.
Last time he did, she had to stay up all night comforting a crying Sayu and reassuring the girl over and over that no, I wouldn't choose Light over you.
Sayu's face lights up into a brilliant smile.
(You won't end up in a wheelchair, I promise you my petite soeur, she promises at night.)
A hassle.
That was what being their big sister felt like.
Not that she really considered them her little siblings. At times, the lines between Andreanna Williams and Nori Yagami blurred. Keep in mind, there was no Nori Yagami. Only Andreanna Williams pretending to be a thirteen year old kid called Nori Yagami. The lines had always been thin and easy to blur. The only reason there even were lines was because Nori Yagami couldn't exactly go around telling people she had another life before this one. No, that would end with her in a home for crazy folks.
Though, with the way Sayu and Light seemed to make it their life mission to drive her crazy, she'd fit in quite nicely. She wouldn't trade Sayu or Light for anything though. Life would be painfully lonely and dull without them.
"Nori?" Sachiko's voice called from upstairs and Nori could hear the woman's footsteps descending downstairs.
Nori couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her by the way both Light and Sayu's faces sour. While both seemed to be constantly trying to one-up the other for her attention, it seemed like they could meet halfway when it came to anyone else having her attention. It wasn't even only when it came to Sachiko. They also seemed to have a truce whenever Nori had friends over.
'They'd get along well if they ever tried to, they're both manipulative shits,' Nori fondly thought.
When Sachiko finally emerged into the living room, looking awfully tired, Nori's face was already back into its usual bored one.
"Yeah?"
Sachiko was holding a list. "You had to go shopping today, right? If it isn't too much trouble…"
Nori inwardly cursed when the woman trailed off.
Great.
Yes, she did tell her mother she was going shopping. If shopping somehow translated to going out to gamble with some school kids at an upperclassman's house, then Nori wouldn't have a problem.
"I'll do it," Nori withheld a sigh.
As shitty at parenting that Sachiko can be, the woman still raised her and changed her diapers. Her mama and papa hadn't raised an ungrateful shit in her previous life, so she'd a good daughter.
Until she was old enough to slowly, but surely, start distancing herself from her current parents. Unlike the last time she did so, it would be intentional this time.
Sachiko looked relieved.
Nori was just planning on how to fit grocery shopping into her schedule. She could still make it to her upperclassman's house if she didn't idle around while getting Sachiko's stuff.
"I want to go with you, onee-sama!"
"Can I come too?"
Great.
Nori sighed.
No gambling today it would seem.
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:::N-O-R-I:::
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Nori found a lot of faults when it came to her new mother and father.
But she could also find things that while not enough to make up for everything, did earn her grudging respect.
For instance, dinner.
She was pretty sure dinner was sacred in the Yagami household. No one was ever absent for it. Not Light. Not Sayu. Heck, not even Soichiro. Nori had once tried to skip dinner to work on 'inventing' some software development (hey, it was her invention if she does it first) that she had spent months working on.
Keyword: tried.
Sachiko had, perhaps for the first time in Nori's life, put her feet down and sternly told her that whatever 'silly project' she was working on could wait and that she would sit down to have a meal with her family. Needless to say, Nori had been pretty putt off by having her work being called a silly project. While the things she was working on wasn't exactly her ideas, it still took a lot of work to correctly remake them. She couldn't exactly ask google to help her copy software that didn't yet exist. For that matter, even google hadn't been invented yet.
In her previous life she had scoffed at her IT-teacher's ramblings about how hard it used to be to program and code. In this life, well, she was grateful as fuck that her teacher drilled comprehension of software, programming and coding instead of just teaching how to copy stuff and answer questions on tests.
Anyway.
Continuing on, dinner was some kind of family bonding or family time when it came to the Yagami household. It was the only time when all five Yagami members were gathered at the same time.
It was when Sachiko would have a satisfied smile for whatever reason and ask her husband how his day had been.
It was when Soichiro would ask his children how their day had been, how school's been going and other tidbits.
It was when Light would clear away any non-existing doubts that he had a bright future ahead of him.
It was when Sayu would finally get the chance to have some attention from her parents without looking pathetic.
As for Nori?
Dinner with the Yagami was when she didn't feel like she was pretending to be their daughter or sister.
(It was when Nori Yagami was just Nori Yagami and no one else.)
"Nori?"
The chopstick paused midway from her mouth, a piece of fried shrimp dangling from it.
All eyes were on her.
Wasn't that unusual?
"Yes? Is something wrong?" Nori asked, feeling a bit impatient. It wasn't her turn to talk about her day and feed them some bullshit about how her friend and her had an argument or about her crush on Mr-Doesn't-Even-Exist.
At least, she was sure it wasn't her turn.
She hadn't heard Sayu's exaggerated tales of beating kids into a mat or Light waxing poetry about subjects he was learning in school.
Yes.
It really wasn't her turn.
That didn't seem to stop Soichiro from looking at her. He seemed actually focused for once. Must be important then.
"Your mother told me you'd be attending a career fair tomorrow with your classmates."
Nori ignored Sachiko's silent motions to put down her chopsticks.
"Yeah, why?"
It wasn't like Soichiro to be interested in her school affairs. Her grades, while not perfect like Light's, were okay. She put more effort into making money, swimming and her computer than she did on her grades. She just had to get into High School. Then get her diploma. She wasn't Light. She wasn't going to be getting a full-ride scholarship into the best University of Japan, so why bother with grades?
Sometimes, how well you performed in school didn't matter at all in the real world.
"Light already knows what he's gonna be when he grows up. Sayu will probably find something she likes soon as well. Your mother and I are worried. You never talk about your future."
Nori resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Excuse her for not being like assertive enough.
(She lived in the past, Sayu breathed in the present, and Light looked towards the future.)
In order to get some time to think, Nori shoves the shrimp in her mouth and started chewing.
A part of her felt smug, since she knew no one could get pissed at her for having manners and not talking while chewing.
In her previous life, Nori was an entrepreneur. She marketed shitty slimming teas, she marketed videogames, she even fucking marketed herself. Whatever it took to get to the top, despite how many things stood in the way. She almost became the CFO of the company she worked at. She died before she could lavish in the paycheck of a CFO.
If she took the same route she did in her life, which in a way she kind of already was with her money-loving ways, she could make it to the top faster.
Or she could take a completely different route in this life.
She, up until this point, had honestly never thought about it. Nori Yagami had just been going through school without a thought to what she would want ten years from now.
Deciding to be honest, Nori gulped down her food, and said: "I haven't thought about my future."
Light and Sayu were oddly quiet.
Soichiro and Sachiko shared a glance.
It seemed like her answer had surprised only her little siblings. Her parents had probably expected it.
"You could be a lawyer," Soichiro quickly suggested.
Nori could practically see Soichiro imagining his eldest daughter being a lawyer while his son led the NPA. She could see that it was probably what Sachiko wanted as well.
Maybe they had been wanting it for some time now.
(Soichiro and Sachiko named their daughter Law, but ironically, Nori didn't care much about laws.)
If only daddy dearest knew that Nori didn't give a merde about justice.
The thing about justice was, you couldn't quite sell it. However, 'justice' can be bought.
Everything had a price tag.
(Even Soichiro.)
"We'll see," Nori vaguely said.
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:::N-O-R-I:::
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It was at the career fair that Nori realized she didn't have to settle for working for someone.
She had the knowledge. She was at least two decades advanced when it came to computers. She knew marketing the way a sailor knew their boat. She knew which companies would flourish. She knew which trends would pick up and which wouldn't.
She could dominate the software security industry.
She could invest in profitable organisations.
She could own her own company.
She wouldn't have to be a trophy assistant, she wouldn't have to work twice as hard as anyone else and she wouldn't have to resort to shagging anyone to become an underrated CFO. She could be rich. She could be her own boss. She could have her own assistant fetching coffee for her.
She could have that bit of power she's always wanted.
So, Nori Yagami begun investing. Of course, while she did have more than enough money that she had been gathering since she was seven, a thirteen year old couldn't invest in anything. She couldn't even make her own credit cards or anything like that.
Not on her own at least.
The thing was, a lot of upperclassmen owed Nori Yagami. It was easy enough to pick one of them, whose parents worked at the bank and who had bet more than he could ever afford, to help her procure a fake ID and a bank account for this fake ID.
Andreanna Williams' bank account steadily grew with each investment that cashed out.
Nori Yagami started doing odd jobs involving programming, coding and hacking. In other words, Nori Yagami begun making connections for her future empire. She started looking for the perfect place to set up her company. Her grades remained the same, but somehow her parents could tell that she finally had an idea. They probably thought she wanted to become a lawyer.
She wasn't even planning on doing college again if all went well.
(In all honesty, the doctor booth did interest her...but aside from sex, biology was never her thing anyway.)
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:::Chapter End.:::
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Author's note: bet you weren't expecting such a quick update, huh? *smirks* In all honesty, it was because of the positive feedback and all the reviews the last update got that inspired me! Thank you all who are supporting this story. It's perhaps my personal favorite when it comes to the Death Note fics I've written.
Note: as Light and Sayu get older, I'll write more from their POV's. (Which will probably happen soon, after I establish some more stuff since I'm not gonna drag the story too much.) It's difficult to write fucked up five and eight year olds when my little siblings are just innocent idiots.
So far, I've seen that you're all divided between shipping Nori with L or Light for some reason. *secretive smile* It's amusing.
(My inner troll: make Nori gay and pair her up with Misa or Nami or Wedy just to screw with your readers minds. (I'm not going to of course))
Anyway!
Today's questions...
Questions:
1. What does Soichiro think about Nori, Light and Sayu? What does Sachiko think about them?
2. What do you think Nori will do when the Kira case happens?