Death Note: The Daughter of Death

Chaper Four - Suspicion

Not a sound was made.

Light's eyebrows wrinkled together. Slowly, he leaned in closer to the screen.

Ryuzaki didn't look afraid. He gnawed at his thumb and watched intently, his round eyes calculating and suspicious.

Of course he wouldn't be alarmed. It would take quite some time to count all the people who had either posed as L or claimed to know him personally. All the claims were false, of course.

Up until now.

After a long pause, the tape continued. "However, I will not give out that name."

And bam. That was all Ryuzaki needed to hear to believe that this was a sham. His attention slowly drifted off elsewhere...

"But, I will give you some hints."

And in seconds it was back again.

"The initials are L.L. He resides somewhere in the Kanto region of Japan, and is currently leading a private police force there that is working on the Kira case."

At this point, Ryuzaki had subconsciously gnawed hard enough on his thumb to draw blood.

"I will make my request simple. Either L gives himself in to me, or I'll ask all my loyal followers to bring me back his head."

A very mischievous note was hit; something dark and fun.

"That is all."

The message flashed off the screen, and the bulky man resumed his incoherent Kira ramblings. But none of that mattered now. Rosie had found a new source of entertainment, and had to summon up much will power not to even crack a slight smile. Her blood was pumping.

Ryuzaki slowly lifted himself from his chair and shuffled across the room. Rosie figured he had been about to confront her. I mean, what are the odds that this would happen one week after getting a mysterious new recruit?

But he did not confront her. He walked right past her lax figure sitting on a couch.

Her pumped-up blood stopped suddenly and turned to ice in her veins.

She had caught a glimpse of something in his eyes...was it worry? Anxiety?

Fear?

What she did...was it that bad?

*    *    *

Ryuzaki had just up and left headquarters. No one knew where he had gone, or for what reason. Wasn't it safer here than outside? Even if that message was fake, there would still be those crazy Kira worshipers on the lookout.

Everyone else had remained at HQ. Not because they didn't care, exactly, but because they realized in the end that it would be futile to go out on a manhunt in the middle of winter.

Rosie had gone up to her room and returned with her laptop. Ryuzaki's expression had really got her to thinking...

She looked up numerous accounts of others claiming to be L openly.

None of these cases had ended well.

One man had been hanged in his own home.

Another was beheaded on the streets of Manhattan.

There was one case where the L poser had met an end too gruesome and horrific to describe. It made her want to heave, it was so horrific.

And this was coming from a God of Death.

Rosie shut her laptop hastily, I never knew how awful...what have I done?

"Rosie?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Is everything alright?"