Apparently, getting back into Death Note meant writing a Death Note / Inuyasha crossover. I'll be using the manga as a base so there might be a few familiar scenes but once it gets to a certain point, the plot will divide.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, Inuyasha, or any of its characters.

Progression
[1] First Impressions

What the hell is that thing? Kagome wondered, her face scrunching up slightly as she stared at the large figure hovering over a young man. It obviously wasn't human but Kagome was positive that it wasn't a demon either. She had seen demons before, fought against monsters that people couldn't even begin to imagine but this was the first time she was seeing something so... so... ridiculous! It was like cosplay gone wrong with its spiky, fur-like shoulder pelt, studded belts, ripped pants, rather high-heeled shoes, and jewelry! It was even wearing jewelry! Besides its odd choice of garments, the creature's aura also lacked a demonic feel to it, instead it felt darker and far more sinister than anything Kagome was used to.

She then turned her attention to the well-dressed student, jaw muscle twitching at the sight of him. He was good looking—very good looking if she was to be completely honest with herself—and he seemed innocent enough if Kagome was only going to judge him by his physical appearance. Unfortunately, Kagome was far more concern about the creature's dark aura swirling, entwining around the human's and dominating it quiet ruthlessly. The human was either possessed or in some sort of contract with the creature; she leaned towards the latter. Kagome has seen possessions before and he didn't seem like a man possessed.

Then, as if sensing her stare, the young man paused momentarily and without warning, looked up. Their eyes met.

Kagome immediately paled, pulling backwards in shock. She blinked rapidly, as if trying to clear away her surprise before quickly turning away. Too late. Not my problem, she thought, forcing herself to continue walking, taking great care to make a wide berth around the human-creature duo. Leave it alone, you're not a hero, Kagome. Leave it alone.

She reminded herself of the hours she had spent studying and studying and studying in the last few months of her middle school career after the well's closing just so she could get into a semi-decent high school. She also had no spent three years of high school studying her ass off so she could fail Touou University's bar exam. Higurashi Kagome was on a mission. She was going to get into the best university of the nation, graduate, get a steady job, earn lots of money, and live a life. The well had failed her and she wasn't going to let her desire for fairy tales and adventure run her hard work.

Ducking her head, Kagome spun around and resumed walking. What was she doing worrying about something no one else could see when she had a bar exam she needed to pass? Not my business, not my business, not my business! So focused was she in her chant, she did not notice the man she had been staring at only moments ago had caught up with her until his shoulder brushes up against her own.

Spiritual powers that had been locked away for so long immediately burst forth, swarming within her at the contact. The amount of jaki the man was giving off was staggering and she squeaked in surprise but managed to hold herself in check, squashing down her powers ruthlessly.

"Ah, I'm sorry," the man said, looking down at her with a faint smile. Kagome didn't care how innocent the man thought he looked, he had obviously bumped into her on purpose. He was trying to get a reaction out of her.

"It's okay," she mumbled, fully intent on speeding up and leaving the human-creature duo behind.

"Are you here for the bar exam?"

Kagome scowled. "Yes." She wanted to scoff; why else would someone be here? It wasn't as if class was still in session.

"You seem nervous," he commented.

Realizing that she wasn't going to be able to leave the man behind without seeming rude—and her mother taught her better than that—Kagome meekly looked up at him, ignoring the dark figure hovering over his other side. "I guess I am," she said. With his natural good looks and light brown eyes, he really did seem innocent. Perhaps he didn't know that he was being followed and possibly slowly possessed by a supernatural creature. "You?"

"Not particularly," he answered with another smile.

The creature laughed, "Of course you're not."

Kagome tensed again but the man doesn't show any indication he had heard the creature speak or noticed her reaction. Maybe it's some sort of dark guardian angel? she thought.

"Oh, I'm Yagami Light, by the way."

"Higurashi Kagome," she responded with a nervous smile, doing her best to ignore the creature which was now giggling uncontrollably. "Nice to meet you." She thought about shutting it up with a pulse of her purification powers but suspected she might also hurt Yagami since the creature's jaki and aura was so interwoven into his own.

"Ah, good luck, Higurashi-san," Yagami said as the two of them approached the sign-in table.

"Thank you." Kagome smiled. "You too."

"Name?" a receptionist asked gruffly.

"Higurashi Kagome," she responded with a bright smile, pulling out her identification card.

The receptionist handed her a slip of paper with a smile, softened by Kagome's polite attitude. "Your number is one sixty-two, good luck."

"Thank you," Kagome responded with another bright smile. "I'll need it!" She turned towards Yagami, "What seat are you in?"

"One ninety-two," he answered with a wave of his number slip, lips curling upwards into an almost smirk-like smile. The creature next to him laughed again, this time even louder than before. "That's too bad."

Kagome giggled nervously in response. Thank god I don't have to sit next to him, she thought. Imagine listening to that laugh while trying to figure out advance calculus.

They wish each other luck one last time before parting ways. Kagome was able to quickly find her seat. "Okay, Higurashi, you can do this," she whispered to herself as she settles down, wiggling around into a more comfortable position. A couple rows in front of her, she noticed that Yagmi's creature was floating near Yagami, saying something too soft for her to hear over the noise of the room. She narrowed her eyes; was it possible that she was mistaken and that Yagami was a really good actor and could actually see his dark guardian angel or whatever that thing was?

Her attention was then diverted when someone sank down into the seat next to hers. Kagome blinked and turned, watching as the man patted himself with a soft humming-like noise. "Ah," he exclaimed softly, looking around as if he had dropped something. He turned towards her and Kagome jerks in surprise as their eyes met. And she thought the bags underneath her eyes were bad. "Ah," he tries again. "Do you have a pencil?" He patted himself again as if to emphasis his lack of one.

"Um... Yes, hold on." She dug into her pencil case and handed one over to the man.

He took it, handling it delicately by holding it by its tip with two fingers. "Thank you," he murmured, biting his thumb nail on his free hand.

She nodded and stared, unable to help herself. She had seen a variety of individuals before—demons, humans, and everything in between—all with different quirks and personalities but this guy has got to be the weirdest by far. Today's just full of surprises, she thought, turning back around so she was facing the front again. This time, she forced herself to ignore the creature still hovering around Yagami; she had another five minutes before the exam starts, she cannot afford to be distracted by creatures she wasn't even supposed to see in the first place.

Yagami Light ran his fingers through his hair, brushing it away from his eyes. It wasn't a coincidence; from her interaction with him earlier, Higurashi Kagome was apprehensive of him. Thinking back, Light was positive that he had not been doing anything earlier that would have made anyone want to avoid him to the point Higurashi had attempted to do so.

In front of the room, the exam proctors began passing out exam sheets and booklets but Light was paying them no mind. He had other things to worry about. Was it possible that she could see Ryuk? But hadn't Ryuk explained to him that she needed to touch his Death Note in order to see him?

He glanced at Ryuk from the corner of his eyes. The shinigami, knowing Light's discomfort was full out laughing now, much to his annoyance. He'll have to have a talk with the shinigami later.

"Begin," the proctor stated and immediately the room filled with noise of page flipping and pencil scratching against paper.

Light sighed and turned his attention to his exam booklet. I'll get this over with and think about her later.

"Student one sixty-two," the proctor called out. He began making his way towards the back of the room. "Please sit properly."

This was the first time Light had ever heard that kind of statement. He turned his head around slightly; what kind of position did one have to sit in in order to catch the attention of a proctor and actually be called out on it? Bare feet propped up onto his desk and sitting in a slightly hunched manner, Light had a feeling that the student was only at Touou's bar exam just to please his parents. What a waste of time, he thought, turning back around.

The exam was just as easy as he had thought it was going to be, managing to finish it an hour before the ending time. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched the entire time. Higurashi, he suspected. He wasn't planning on killing her earlier but she was acting way too suspicious for his liking. She knows something and Light was not about to take any chances. She may seem innocent despite being as nervous as she was but Light will not underestimate her. The last time he had underestimated someone, he had revealed the limits to Kira's powers to the worst person possible.

Waiting until he reached a rather isolated street, Light redirected his attention back to Ryuk. "Do you know something."

Ryuk laughed. "About what?"

As if he doesn't know, Light scowled. "Higurashi Kagome. Do you know something about her?"

Ryuk couldn't help but grin at the question. Although Light's voice gave nothing away, the shinigami knew that Light was more than just a little curious. To tell or not to tell? He weighs his options and ultimately decided that telling would be so much more amusing than withholding information. Let the young human panic, let him realize that L was not the only threat to his dreams of a perfect world, let him wander about in the unknown. "I cannot see her lifespan."

Light stared at Ryuk in shock. "What does that mean?"

Ryuk tapped a clawed finger against his chin. "Well, since human owners of the Death Note can be considered shinigamis themselves, fellow shinigamis are unable to see their lifespans. It's one of our rules, you see." It is also another one of their rules that they weren't allowed to tell humans the life spans of other humans but Ryuk couldn't see hers so he wasn't actually breaking anything.

"So she owns a Death Note," Light muttered. And by the way she had acted around him, she must have the shinigami eyes which meant that she knows he also has a Death Note. With this in mind, Light knows that he has no other choice but to kill her before she killed him. Another Death Note owner would add so much additional variables into his life and with L suspected families of police officers and him being watched, he cannot afford another variable. Besides—

Ryuk giggled again.

"What is it?" Light demanded.

The shinigami's grin widened, his lips stretching to their full capacity and then some. "I can't see her name either."

Light froze. "And what does that mean?" Much to Light's annoyance, Ryuk only chuckled happily. Vowing that he was going to start withholding apples from the shinigami for an uncertain amount of time in the future, Light eyed the shinigami and tried again, "Did she see you?"

Shrugging a shoulder, Ryuk answers with a nonchalant wave of his hand, "That's impossible. As you know, the only people that can see me are those that have touched my Death Note." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "However, there are some humans that are more spiritually aware than others, so it's very possible that she sensed me." He cackled delightfully. "But even those humans are rare, just be happy that she was too scared to confront you about it."

But Light was not happy, in fact, he was far from happy. He made his way into a familiar cafe and seated himself in his favorite isolated corner. The girl may not be a criminal, but like the FBI agents from before, she was a threat to his utopia and he knew that in order to achieve his dreams, a few sacrifices were necessary.

"Can I get you anything?" a waitress asked.

Light smiled up at her. "Just a plain iced coffee, please."

"Of course," she responded with a smile, leaving to place his order.

Next to Light, Ryuk was thinking to himself. As amusing as the situation was, even the shinigami wasn't entirely sure why he couldn't see her name. If it was only her lifespan, he wouldn't care. There were action various reasons as to why a shinigami can't see someone's lifespan, them being an owner of a Death Note just being the most common one of them.

However, the fact that he can't see her name... now, that was something to be concerned about. The only explanation he could come up with was that she wasn't human, perhaps a demon hiding behind a human mask. Although their numbers have dwindled in the past few centuries, Ryuk has been able to spot some every now and then, blending perfectly in with humans. He, however, had quickly discarded that possibility when their auras had brushed up against each other earlier. The young woman, although amusing, was nothing more than a simple human, insignificant.

The shinigami scratched his chin again but decided that it didn't matter. She had already caught Light's attention and the young boy managed to not only get her to tell him her name but also verify it when she took out her identification card earlier. Knowing Light, the young girl was going to be dead by the end of the day.

"Here you go," the waitress said, returning and placing down a tall glass of iced coffee in front of Light. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, thank you," Light responded kindly.

The waitress smiled one last time before leaving. Now that he was alone and not about to be interrupted anytime soon, Light reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small sheet of Death Note paper along with a pen from his jacket pocket. Ryuk laughed besides him.

Higurashi Kagome, he penned, his handwriting small and neat. It wouldn't do to make her die from a heart attack; L was probably keeping an eye on all heart attack related deaths and get suspicious. Knowing the detective wasn't the usual annoying idiot, Light wouldn't be surprised if L managed to link it back to him. January 17th 2003. Goes out to buy some snacks at a local convenient store. Does not see an oncoming car and gets run over. Dies at exactly 16:23. Light leaned back, admiring his handy work for a moment before folding the paper and slipping it back into his pocket. He took a sip of his coffee.

"You seem pretty pleased," Ryuk commented.

"Of course," he murmured quietly. That was one less problem for him to worry about.

He allowed himself a few more minutes of relaxation as a congratulations for a job well done. After ten minutes or so, he decided that he had wasted enough time and quickly finishes the rest of his coffee before putting the money down onto the table. He gets up and made his way towards the exit.

"Oh!" the waitress exclaimed. "Thank you for coming! Come back next time."

Light smiled in response. "Of course, this is my favorite cafe, after all."

The waitress blushed, probably thinking that his comment was subtly hinting at something. He fights the urge to roll his eyes as he turned around. Light reached for the door handle but before he could even touch it, the door opens, revealing a man on the other side.

Light blinked in surprise. He seriously needed to get his act together if he was planning on not only evading L but killing him too. How was he supposed to do that if he didn't even notice a man standing on the other side of a glass door?

"Oh my," Ryuk breathed, next to him. "What an interesting day."

Light looked up and promptly froze. There was something about the man that made the fine hair at the back of his neck stand up. He looked average enough but Light knew that he should not ignore his instincts. Besides, Light himself looked average but he was about to be the God of the New World. Additionally, there had to be something special about the man if Ryuk was going to comment on him. Light stepped to the side, giving the man room to go into the cafe but the man doesn't move, choosing instead to stare at Light.

What?

The man's lips curled upwards in a smirk that sends an uncontrollable shiver down Light's spine. Brown eyes flickered, looking almost amber in color from the sunlight. And then, without warning, the man looked away and made his way towards the counter as if nothing had happened in the first place.

What the hell? Light thought. First Higurashi and now him? Was there something on his face?!