UPDATE of CHAPTER 6 (12/12/2017):

Changed Ryuk's response to Sayu's Spaceland friendship proposal and Ryuk and Armonia Justin's talk regarding Sayu. Made Ryuk slightly more indifferent in former, in latter, made Ryuk sort of more irritated. I also removed the something they saw in Sayu for the sake of originality and to increase challenge in the story.

UPDATE of CHAPTER 7 (03/6/2017, a few hours after publishing the chapter):

Some of the scenes weren't seperated by scene-break indicators that's why it got so confusing for some readers. I fixed this problem now, though if there's one I missed, please feel free to inform me so. I also added a little more details to the ending for the sake of clarity, though I'm keeping the slightly vague style. You'll also see this memo at the start of the next chapter. Thanks!

2ND UPDATE of CHAPTER 7 (03/6/2017, a couple more hours after publishing the chapter):

Added one last scene at the end of the whole thing.

##

Author's Note:

I was surprised when the writing bug bit me for this. I was almost tempted to leave her, after trying so hard, so many times, to come back.

I feel like an adventurer who had traveled far and wide. And perhaps the seas of reality will call out to me soon and this is anything but a long reunion. But I don't want to think of that at all. I'm home now and I have her hand in mine. For this I am glad.

##

Chapter 7: Mess

"Sayu," Sachiko in her violet apron said in a stern voice as she walked down the planked stairs. "Your room's a mess"

From her seat, the girl in question turned her head briefly in her parent's direction, frowning as she chewed her toast and tried to concentrate on the TV. "Aww, Mom, you know I'm busy with school."

"You've said that last week! Twenty minutes of cleaning is all I ask."

"I could have finished half of one of my homeworks at that time!" she took another bite, savoring her peanut butter on crisp bread and feeling a bit annoyed as she tried to catch what Hideki Ryuuga and Misa Amane were saying.

"Right. You say you're busy yet you have time for this!"

Sayu did not answer, by this time she was staring at the screen with an open mouth.

"You wore the shirt I gave you on your birthday when you went to the reunion with her. When you're around me, you keep humming our favorite songs from our shared playlist a long time ago. You keep wearing accessories, shades, cellphone case, of my very particular shade of royal blue that I'm so fond of. And you even named your two pet gerbils after me! Yue and Rizuka!Are you playing with my feelings?! Because you think I still c-c..."

Filled with emotions, the teary eyed Yue couldn't continue her sentence. With one last slap, Yue flipped her blonde hair and was about to walk away.

Sayu was absorbed, as the camera zoomed on the boy's hesitating face, as Sayu watched waiting if the secret merman would choose to confess his new curse of not being able to say what he feels or risk being a barely sentient aquarium display for the rest of his life.

And her mother turned off the TV.

"Quit this obsession with Amane and Hideshi Ryuuna. Clean your room."

She looked at the woman in front of her with great annoyance. Sachiko's mouth was in a thin straight line, probably mirroring her daughter's own identical copy.

Really? This early in the morning? She wanted to scream at her! Her soaps was one of the more innocent things she had! She could clean her room later! It was also a Sunday for goodness' sake!

"Fine."

And she went upstairs with more force than necessary.

And halfway through, "And it's Hideki Ryuuga!"

##

"Where's Mom?" Light rolled in the living room later an hour before lunch time.

"Who cares?"

Sayu was sitting on the sofa, flipping the channels of the TV in a consistent pace, not so fast but not so slow either. A permanent pout seemed etched on her face.

"Ah, I remember. She's in her book club today. Weren't you supposed to pick up the home-made biscuits she forgot to bring?"

On the corner of her eye Sayu saw her brother sitting calmly on his wheelchair and opening his flip phone.

"She texted me that she texted you that she only managed to bring the teabags this morning. They're expecting the food by lunch so..."

Sayu did not react, still maintaining her constant press on the remote.

"Hey, Sayu."

"She'll live without the biscuits."

He rolled towards her until he's right beside her.

"Sayu-chan, you know I would if I could." Light paused, tilting his head to one side. "On second thought, maybe I can."

She wants to turn to her brother and raise an eyebrow. He knows fully well that Soichiro would forbid it. He's still in physical therapy. Unless, he has someone capable to accompany him...

She knew her brother well.

"Nice try. Maybe later though."

The screen was still flashing lights courtesy of the miffed girl.

"Can you at least let me have a go on the telly before you fry it dead?"

"Go crazy," she gave it to Light.

"Augh! Not the mutts stupidity!" Sayu exclaimed.

"Reports on the hybrid mutts just in. Authorities believed that the killings are made by the Animalia Activists, an extremist group said to train the said mutts to eat the soft parts of zookeepers. They are said to break into zoos, and do the deed by ordering their pets the words they are trained to respond to. Experts believe -"

"Come on! Do they really expect us to believe that these are the same people as last time? Yes it's possible, but the circumstances are different! These aren't zookeepers anymore! These are jails with guards and criminals! And what soft parts this time? They're completely mauled!"

"Well, the soft parts of the insides," Light looked slightly amused at Sayu's outburst. "And they must have some morphed sympathy to humans they think are being treated like the other caged animals."

"But the previous case of the activists are totally different. The eyes were targeted, bites on the neck was the kill. But this? And what a lame reason of connection! They have no proof. Just assumptions."

"Well, they are hybrid mutts."

"This just feels wrong, Light."

"Well, -"

"I know, I know. I'm not supposed to entirely trust on feelings. But come on. If this goes on, this would just become another urban legend overtime and people would actually be less cautious about the entire thing because they don't believe in it."

Light laughed.

"If it's any consolation. I sort of agree with you Sayu-chan. But you have to admit that they're just taking in the comfort of an explanation even if the evidence don't entirely match up. They've got no leads and that scares them."

Light started to change channels again.

"And please not a Kira Special again," Sayu managed to pipe up once more. "I'm sorry if I'm whining too much, I mean they're a hundred times better than the mutt news, but they're over-exerting their efforts to expand on the topic. There's nothing more to say. They're just repeating what we know over and over again in various embellished video edits and scripts!"

"Not all medium's on that topic is so bad. The NPA commercials and NPA segments for one are sufficiently new."

"They're idiots. Don't they realize that some pro-Kira could plant fake evidence on them and then charge them with corruption or other sort of crime? That's enough news for the Kira Cult to take them out!"

"Are you on your period?"

"Onii-chan!"

"Here. While you were changing channels I managed to catch something you didn't."

Her brother pressed the remote.

Sayu smiled.

"Misa Amane Special of Star Gossip. Misa Amane seen trying to put slugs in her on-again, off-again boyfriend Hideki Ryuuga's underwear, off-screen of the smashi-hit TV series Merman's Love," Light read under the CCTV video of a blonde superstar caught in the act.

"Hahaha!" cried Sayu.

Light made a face. "I suddenly want to down a bleach bottle."

"Onii-chan!" she said, the cheer still in her throat. "Be nice!"

"What made a smart girl like you become addicted to them, Sayu? What sort of witchcraft did they have to use?"

"I'm just curious about them, that's all."

"Like why Misa Amane would stay in love with a womanizer like Hideki Ryuuga?"

"No," Sayu said, suddenly serious, looking at him. "More like why Misa Amane isn't in love with you."

"Ah, sorry. ..What?" The brown-haired boy also wrenched his eyes away from the telly as Sayu looked away.

"What? Nothing, Onii-chan. It's nothing."

But she was laughing very hard on the inside.

##

Sayu, from her desk, looked up at the sky from her second story classroom.

Vaguely she wondered where Ryuk was now. If he had talked to Armonia Justin yet. If he was still sulking.

The last class of that Monday had started but the teacher was late, so around her, her classmates gossiped, joked around, creating havoc. One of them even jumped on the desk and crouched there, his hands waving and punching the air as he tried to explain to some of his listening peers an action scene in a movie he had watched. The others stated their high hopes that they bet that they would be out an hour sooner, that their Sensei was unavailable and there was no last-minute sub.

She felt a mild sense of irritation. Her friends were in another class and while this was a comforting slice-of-life scene she had so loved, right now, with a huge responsibility on her shoulders, she preferred the peace and quiet.

"Did you hear about the video?"

"Yes, what an awful situation to be in."

A gaunt young man had uploaded a video on Palster. He said he was on the news a few days back and admitted to his crime of stealing. But he was begging, begging the cult not to kill him.

"This is the first and last time I would ever nick again," he was covering a half-crazed eye with a trembling hand. "I was only thinking of my pregnant wife at that time, I wasn't thinking."

Twenty-three year old Ogi Sonorama, father of three that was about to become four, zoomed pass on a motorcycle, effectively snatching the bag filled with shop credits a local store owner was carrying.

Sayu had flipped the pages of the Death Note, wrenching it from its hiding place.

She had already designated his death next month.

The girl looked on quietly at the sky, refusing to feel anything.

Later at home, her legs crossed, her back straight, her hand on her knees and her windows open, she would try to let go of all thoughts and listen. She would hear the distant roars of the vehicles passing by, the whiz of the train, perhaps even the random tweet of a lone bird, or even Light's snores in the next room.

But her favorite was still the noisy window. She would draw the world inward, so that she could let out all that might be capable of leading her to insanity. Like a straw, the open window was, as it sucked her sorrows away.

She studied her classmates again. Some were happy. Somebody was worried about someone not liking her back. Someone was trying to scribble an essay he forgot to do and pass this morning. Sayu felt a twinge of envy.

She wanted to go back from this lifestyle but knows well of the repercussions. And now she feels separate from the world, like an invisible wall was there between her an her peers. It had been like this ever since that faithful afternoon and the ink on the sheets by her own hand, but she had to be strong.

Vaguely, she thought of how Light would have felt in her position. Not including the guilt and being Kira, her brother probably feels this way most of the time towards his age group. But where Sayu only feels it now, Light probably had always sensed the terrible distance from anyone who did not have the brilliant mind as him. The topics of conversation that would not cross as petty to him but ordinary to some would be hard to come by. His peers were too trivial and other people older enough to entertain such talks would probably not take him seriously.

She thinks this, sometimes, even when he smiled at her and ruffled her hair, when he seemed at peace and content with her while they power on another complete successful mech or while they bicker when they watch TV, that such effort on her part to help him was nothing but a scratch on the surface.

She continued to sky-watch, half-expecting a black dot that would draw nearer and nearer until it was her flying pirannah-faced chum. Ryuk would frown at her with his grin and her request in his hand. Like life was that easy.

Nothing was there between the clouds of course, and instead she pictured a boy in his brown emo hair in the supposedly vacant seat in front of her, his bored face cradled by his hand as he looked out the window, seeing that black dot in the sky, until it became larger and larger, and became one of the most deadliest weapon that would be known in this world.

Well, Light isn't the psychopath mass-murderer now. So perhaps, progress?

Her eyes continued to see the black rectangle thing. Her imagination, she thought, was pushing her from reality and hopefully its current worries. Or doing the opposite; aggravate her more.

As the thing lands on the ground, she saw his brother walking near it, perfectly fine and was not in his wheelchair. He had one hand in his pocket and the other was on the strap of the bag on his back. He was looking down and was moving the deadly black thing with the tip of his shoe.

Her grip on her collar she was subconsciously fiddling with tightened. This was the moment of the end for him. If she was there in the other story, would she have stopped him?

How about here, in this world? If Light was right beside her when Ryuk came to her in that alleyway... No, that's stupid if Light was right beside her then, then maybe, just maybe, she had no reason to go down that path. No, if Light was right beside her when she was about to write her first name would he stop her? Wait, which Light?

The boy on the ground leaned to pick the Note.

Sayu hissed and as if hearing her, the boy looked up in her direction.

But it was no boy.

It was her face with eyes dead and unfeeling. It was her in that ridiculous emo haircut and that calm smirk.

Her lips trembled as she watched herself pick up the Note and leave the campus premises.

So much for escaping reality.

Meanwhile someone entered the room and announced an early dismissal.

As the inhabitants of the room slowly left, one girl folded her arms on her desk and hid her face.

There was something cold heavy in her stomach. Not guilt, not fear, Sayu slowly realized in confusion as she took in the smell of table wood her face was pressed against.

Still feeling the small frozen pebble, Sayu closed her eyes and saw a blushing Haruhi before he left them that night before the concert. She saw the empty road in front of her school as she realized that Light was 15 minutes late from picking her up.

Shit.

She didn't know someone was watching her from the classroom door. The stranger seemed to be holding a wrench. But as the other students filed out, such person disappeared with them entirely.

##

"For goodness sake, Sayu. You've been on the edge all afternoon."

Sayu turned to one of her best friends Megumi, her curled hair and tanned skin, pulling her hand to her house, the Kawakami residence.

Sayu was surprised when Megumi made her promise to keep her company while she babysits her sister Keiko as her parents go out for a date. The infamous Takegumi/Megushi couple, as she so liked to lightly tease them sometimes, had been distant from her and Matsui.

Seeing that Takeshi was one of her oldest friends, Matsui even talked to Sayu about, worried what's up. But she could not say anything since she saw nothing amiss. For all she knows, the lovebirds just want a break from Mister Third-wheel and Madame Fourth-wheel.

Anyway, due to this girl time with Megumi, she had to wait for about half an hour for her bestie's own class to be dismissed since Sayu was let off early by hers.

Now near the residence, Sayu, in her discreet way, was also looking around her anxiously, making sure her 'Ello Kitty surgeon mask that covered her nose and mouth was still in place. Despite all her planning, this was one factor she had forgotten to apply right away. The Canon of this story is wrecked, who knows who has the Note and the Eyes in this city?

"Sayu!"

Well, she thought she was being discreet anyway.

Her brand new expensive and well-tested taser was in her pocket.

She wanted a switch blade knife, but she reasoned that knives were more associated with attacks rather than self defense like the taser. And if she used it and she was put on broadcast, people would wonder why the cult, thought they were slow-moving than Canon Kira, never got around of killing her.

She took this fact as comfort for the feeling from before won't leave her. The stone in her stomach was cold, and getting worse. It was like a sponge sapping her warmth, growing bigger as it cooled her.

She had been looking over her shoulder, expecting trouble. Before Megumi's class was over, she called Sachiko and Light if they were okay. They said they were. She even checked on Matsui and Takeshi

The two girls took off their shoes and wore indoor sandals.

"We're home," Megumi called as she walked in, Sayu trailing behind her. She looked around removing her mask and fought the urge to check the premises.

The Kawakami home was larger than Sayu's, but also a bit messier, Sayu noted as she notice the kid drawings and crayons on the living room's coffee table and animal stuffed toys on the sofa.

Light would be furious, Sayu chuckled despite herself.

"Mom? Dad?" Megumi disappeared in the kitchen. "Keiko!"

Sayu ran to the kitchen to find the 5 year-old girl in pigtails standing beside a tall high stool and looking at them with saucer eyes. Beside her, on the floor, was spilled milk, and colored pieces of cereal scattered all over the floor. The jumbo-sized green cereal box looked sad and emptied.

The older sister was fuming.

"I don't even -" She scrunched her nose and shut her eyes. "I can't deal with this right now. Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Um...," little Keiko looked as if she was about to cry.

"Well!?"

"They left already."

"They left you alone?" Sayu piped up in a kind tone, pitying her.

Keiko nodded looking at her. "I told them Onee-chan was in her room."

"And they believed you in their hurry," Megumi whimpered, "I'm so grounded if they knew you were home alone."

"I could take care of myself!" the high-pitched child's voice rang in protest

"Really?" Megumi gestured toward the mess. "And why even cereal in the afternoon?!"

Keiko in her purple pajamas looked down in shame.

Megumi sighed looking at her sister as if resigned, "Just go with Sayu in the living room while I clean this up. I'm sorry for freaking out but just don't do it again, please."

Keiko sat on the sofa. She was quiet and had her head bowed.

Sayu sat cross-legged as she looked at her drawings on the coffee table. She had already asked if she could see them, trying to be nice, but was only met with a grunt as she was given permission.

Keiko's drawings were alright. But mostly are stick figures.

"Do you want me to teach you different other ways to draw?" Sayu turned to the girl.

"Hmm... okay!" the girl looked up, cheering immediately.

She went and sat next to Sayu, also crossing her knees.

"Oooh! Can you also teach me how to write?" Keiko said as she reached for her box of crayons.

"Sure!" Sayu said, a bit surprised that no one taught her yet. Well, maybe they had and Keiko just wanted more lessons. What a responsible little girl. "Sure. Yes, I would love to, Keiko-chan."

##

After fixing Keiko's mess and apparently calling her parents briefly, Megumi went out of the kitchen

"Whoa, that was a lot to deal with," Megumi said in the whiniest mood Sayu had ever sensed, that she was sure Light would also ask if Megumi was also on her period.

"They said they're sorry for leaving Keiko on her own and would talk to her about the whole thing later. And Mom kept saying that we should be careful and stay safe since crazy killer groups seemed to be on the loose! I just heard from them right now! Some of Japan's NPA just d-" Megumi's eyes landed on a Keiko scribbling something on a paper "-passed on! I mean, what does that have to do with us?"

"Really?" Sayu's ears perked. "How did they -? Let me guess, the ones featured from TV, right?"

"The very same," Megumi nodded. She looked at her sister. " They..." she clutched her chest.

"No!" Sayu said.

"Yes!"

Sayu's thoughts went in circles. This could only mean one thing. Her visage darkened momentarily at the thought of another wave of stress.

"Um, Sayu, can you help me cook dinner?"

Sayu looked at Keiko practicing her Kanji with a purple crayon on the coffee table.

"It would just be a few minutes," Megumi said.

As Sayu stood up and shuffled to follow Megumi, Megumi turned to her.

"You've been wearing that jacket ever since we've come in, aren't you warm?"

No. Sayu wasn't. The feeling hasn't left her. It had been escalating. Oddly enough, it didn't feel anything like her usual fevers. She felt fine.. just... she looked over her shoulder again.

Megumi, seemingly preoccupied, didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she put a pack of instant spaghetti on the microwave.

Sayu doesn't see why Megs would need assistance for such an easy task. She then prepared herself for a satisfying release from curiosity.

They sat on the two high tools, one of the chairs Keiko was standing by a while ago. Megumi breathed as she held Sayu's hand.

She looked her in the eye. Megumi didn't hesitate. Didn't go on with a detour of words. In the end, Sayu thought that maybe she shouldn't be surprised.

"Sayu, I'm pregnant."

##

She went home earlier that night, not staying for Megumi's spaghetti dinner. So many implications, so many things to think over and she just wanted to rest.

"Mom, where's Light?"

"I did him a favor of dropping him off over theYamamoto's as agreed" her mother said stiffly.

Yasmin Yamamoto was one of Light's rare close friends who Light actually tolerates. Or pretends to tolerate. Who knows? Tonight, Sayu heard that they were going to play video games. Smart video games, Light had corrected her. Hahaha, right, dear brother. Have fun!

Also, her mother didn't say it, but she could hear it in her tone that continues the rest of what she wanted to say after "I did him a favor..." Unlike others here who doesn't want to do anyone a favor.

She sighed, now feeling guilty as her annoyance yesterday had somewhat faded. Maybe she had been too harsh on her. Those biscuits she didn't manage to bring to her book club were a new recipe Sachiko had been trying to perfect for weeks. After her Mom finishes her innumerable chores, Sayu often catches her late at night, taste-testing freshly mixed batter, the kitchen a mess of flour, small bottles of extracts (Sayu spied banana, vanilla, coconut, and others she can't pronounce), pans, and for some reason, different-sized whisks.

Sachiko was a very sweet woman as well, 99.5% of the time, and she was, in her way, only looking out for her yesterday when she turned off the TV.

Sayu wanted to say sorry to the retreating back of Sachiko's, probably on her way to the sink to do the dishes by hand. But Sayu was so tired, the cold stone was worse, but by this time, she was convinced it was just some kind of exhaustion triggering a strange kind of anxiety.

Perhaps the yoga has an unknown side effect where some accumulated stress comes bouncing back. This sounds stupid even to her, but she couldn't help but speculate a little.

Another small wave of disconcerting chill crept up to her.

Augh! She's going to drink meds, sleep, and she'd worry about her mother and Megumi and the entire galaxy tomorrow.

With that, Sayu went upstairs to the room she cleaned yesterday and slept.

##

Sayu woke up from the melancholy notes of Don't Be So Rash by the band called Worms in Australia are Cool.

She flipped her phone open.

"Sayu! Sayu! Help, I'm bleeding everywhere!"

It was Megumi whisper-screaming.

"Oh, shit!" It took Sayu half a second to compose herself.

"Megs, did you call an ambulance?"

"I don't want to do that! What will my parents say if one does actually comes here and they find out about me and Takeshi having a – God that hurt!"

"Your parents will praise you for being smart enough not to get killed! I'm hanging up and calling the ambulance!" she whisper-screamed back this time.

"No! No! Sayu, listen, just come here."

"To do what?!"

"I already called Takeshi. He could drive his brother's car. But he needs help carrying me so... Oh, I'm sorry, Sayu!"

Her friend was right, a sweet and smart person, Takeshi was, he couldn't manage to be able to handle any weight except his backpack and the rectangle glasses perched on his nose.

"Sayu?!

"Yes! I'm coming!"

Quietly, and quite dazed from the panic, she somehow managed to grab her taser from the nightstand drawer, find some flashlight and sneak her now functioning bicycle from their garage.

Sayu was barely a block from her house when it happened.

It was loud and it reminded her vaguely of her teacher Ms. Kaoru when she wanted the class to settle down, putting the large pile of books on the front desk by the blackboard with a startling kablag. Only this was ten times worse.

She felt like a doll, well, more of a puppet really, as she was propelled forward, like she was being pulled by invisible strings she can't even feel.

Instead what she sensed was something hot and burning from her back, in the distance, barely a block away.

As she fell, face first, her bike gave under her and then bounced over her head.

Her ears were ringing and she smelled something burnt.

In her shambled lingering thoughts, Sayu noted that she could sense some dark twisted humor here somewhere, and that she wondered if Light would get a chuckle out of it.

The last thing she remembered was turning her head a bit on the asphalt and seeing a pretty glowing ball from about a half a block away. Pretty... the sleep she was interrupted with a while ago then came to soothe her.

##

People were coming out of their homes. All around, they stepped out one by one, as if animals woken from hibernation after the harsh winter months. And they indeed, have found warmth as some checked the scene in disbelief.

It was a mess. Debris was everywhere. And an odd smell of burnt plastic permeated the air.

They found a girl in the middle of the road and her bicycle a couple of yards away from her.

Barely a street away from her was her burning house.

##

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading!

Please feel free to comment.

I don't mind filling some plot holes I haven't noticed with the Quick-Dry Cement Mix of Reason. After all, plot holes are awful and make people trip. Hahaha.

Sorry. Cheesy.

Like Pizza. Oh, my. I'll stop now for real.

Stopping. Click.

P.S.

I'm also very groggy, that I can't be bothered with my usual horizontal line scene breaks right now. I hope you guys don't mind.

Look, I'm also posting this for the first time without barely the proper once over this deserves. For now, I could only rely on the built-in grammar and spelling checks.

If I don't post this now, I might not be able to post it until next week, or god forbid, until next month. I have a tight schedule, but I might recheck this manually after a day or so. I hope.

Please forgive me. And note that flames submitted may be doused with cold water.