Title: Written in Blood

Author: Moi Fah

Genre: Angst

Crossover: Sailor Moon/Death Note

Universe: Anime/ Anime (slight changes)

Timeline: Any/end of series (respectively)

Pairings/ Characters: Hotaru, Light, Ryuk

Word Count: 1420

Feedback: If you feel so moved...

Rating: T

Writing Prompt: Light Yagami, personal quote

She hadn't asked for this...she'd only been walking home from the university.

It was a golden afternoon, the streets and buildings bathed with the orange glow of the setting sun. It was a hot day, surprisingly so, when the onsets of fall were beginning to settle into place. Still, her dark brown coat clung to her body for the fear that the temperature might suddenly drop. Hotaru Tomoe may have looked an odd-sight to anyone who crossed her path, a tiny petite girl all bundled up.

But she couldn't have been more out of place than what mirrored her across a t-shaped intersection. It was a body. The body was someone she knew quite well. Stopping in her stride, a slowing walk rather than an abrupt halt, she took in the sight before her. The body was one Light Yagami, a man she knew during their time in high school together and then later in university. He had transferred from her school after only a short attendance period...or so she had been told. Of course, she never learned the full story, that the boy, his father, and another young girl had been locked up inside of prison cells for quite some time.

The t-shaped intersection of road was empty, her sidewalk and the one to her left devoid of life and bustle. The sidewalk in front of her had only one occupant, grabbing as hard as he could onto the stretch of chain-length fence. He was bleeding, evident by the blood spatter that adorned in a small puddle around his feet. His body had broken out into a sweat and he almost seemed to be gasping breathlessly for air...had he been shot?

Hotaru took a small step forward, wondering if Light Yagami could even see her anymore...he had lost quite a bit of blood.

Back in high school, she had developed quite a crush on the quiet boy who frequently took seats by the window and stared out of them during lecture. Once, she'd even been caught staring at his staring form, causing the teacher to appropriately punish her for her lost attention. Then when university came, she'd been excited to learn that he also planned to attend with her and saw a small chance of opportunity. Eventually, the two of them had ended up on a date together, a rather nondescript one that took them to dinner and a darkened movie theater. Light Yagami was what she would have called...the distracted type. He never seemed fully there during their date and especially not in classes. It was as if something else had taken a hold of his mind completely.

Afterward, he'd abruptly ended their relationship, period, clearly stating that he had no desire to even be associated with her any longer. When he'd said it, it had hurt. When she passed a bubbly blond dressed in goth garb on the stairs, it stung even more. It wasn't until she was out on the streets, accidentally bumping into a dark-haired man with glasses that she finally broke down. The man appeared to want to walk on ahead but something pulled him back, almost as if he feared someone was watching him.

He comforted her for a short time then continued on his way. Hotaru never caught his name and never saw him after that.

It was strange how Light Yagami had cut off their relationship so soon without reason. After all, she'd only been in his room chatting...he'd stepped out for a brief moment...she'd found a notebook page sticking out of a dresser drawer. It may have been wrong to try and force the drawer open when it didn't automatically give on the first pull, but his reaction was far worse than anything he could have been trying to hide in there. Light Yagami returned, palms sweaty and teeth-gritted, his face shifting to appear amiable and friendly...but he was failing miserably at it.

Hotaru forced herself to walk forward, not even bothering to look both ways down the street. She stopped in front of his body, hands clenched tight around her suitcase handle. Light Yagami was dying...from blood loss, maybe, she wasn't sure. Unfortunately, as she was the senshi who presided over the aspect of life and death, she had a certain sense about these things. Would he look up and acknowledge her? Would he finally crumple to a heap on this sidewalk?

Then again, was it cruel for her to just be standing here...watching another human being die? Even if she ran for help, he'd most likely bleed out before anyone got here and she had nothing on her person suitable enough to tie a tourniquet. It was then something caught her eye, a piece of news clipping that had become lodged in the chain-length fence...it was an article about KIRA, the mysterious murderer who claimed to be ridding the world of criminals to create his own utopia.

Was Light Yagami, 'KIRA'?

She had no evidence to think so and no reason to cause such a thought and yet...it crossed her mind. He was certainly intelligent enough to do it, cunning, clever...his father was a police man so he would have intricate knowledge of the KIRA case known only to the police...it would also explain his distracted and detached nature from the people around him.

Who else could be KIRA but Light Yagami?

It seemed so simple now.

"He really is KIRA, you know?"

Hotaru turned her head to the top of a tall post whereupon a creature she knew quite well had taken perch. She gave a small smile to herself before answering, "I figured it out on my own."

"You gonna save him?"

It was a strange question...at least to her. She had no business meddling in affairs of life and death, she was more of an...overseer, not the grim reaper and definitely not a shinigami. If she were some sort of grim reaper who actively decided who got to live and who got to die, well then...she'd definitely have no free time to herself nor have time for senshi business and that always came first.

Still...Light Yagami...she had crushed on him, grown to like him, fancied herself in love with him. Was this a hard decision or was it not? He was KIRA, he killed criminals...but they were also human lives. That surely could not go unpunished. Was he redeemable though? Would he kill again? Most definitely. Light Yagami would perform much better as a shinigami than he had as a human.

"I'll let you decide this time, Ryuk." Hotaru answered, saying the creature's name to show their personal connection...to what extent she wasn't sure though. She'd crossed paths with him many times, a random shinigami who had come to the human world for some fun...not an unusual sight to be honest. Along with Rem and a few others, she had seen the worst of the worst shinigami come crawling through this town, looking for a human to latch onto and ultimately kill...how many times, how many methods did these shinigami go through before they grew bored of taking life?

Hotaru had never touched one of those notebooks, but knew everything there was to know about them.

With a careless eye, she watched the forever-grinning shinigami take up a pen and began to jot down the familiar name of Light Yagami. "He was your friend too, was he not?" Hotaru questioned, knowing full well that once a name had begun to be written, they would die no matter what. Ryuk ended the final kanji symbol with semi-flair, throwing the pen up into the air until it vanished in a small burst.

"It was in our agreement." the shinigami stated simply before spreading his wings and flying off, no longer having any obligation to stay here any longer. The petite child of death was surprisingly no fun and bored him pretty quickly.

"This is farewell then, Light Yagami." Hotaru nodded, her voice somber and low, sounding much more like the warrior of Saturn whose persona she fought under. The boy who now lay with his left side against the chain-length fence, a bloody pale hand still clenching the metal, began to finally break down into a heap, his breathing beginning to slow.

"For what they say, I am truly sorry, but I am not the one fighting for you any longer."

Light Yagami looked up one last time through pale, dead, fish-like eyes...there was a shadow standing over him...