Chapter Two

Morning. Light awoke with a start.

He stared around the room uncertainly, the events of the previous night flooding back to him. It was hard to believe that the events had really happened, but he trusted his memory not to confuse dreams with reality to such an extent.

His room had not been damaged from the confrontation, but he was sure that downstairs had been. Where had that Shinigami gone?

There was a knock at his bedroom door. With deliberate care, he steadily rose from bed and opened the door.

"Ah, good morning Light." His father stood at the door, dressed in a crisp suit, ready for work. "Sorry if I woke you but there's…been an incident."

Light gave his father a long hard look before peering past him down the stairs. A large portion of the living room wall looked as if a bulldozer had been through it.

"I'm not sure how it happened…or how no one woke up…" his father continued with a sigh. "But you'd better get dressed and come down. I've called over some people from the office to look into it, but they're as baffled as I am. I'd like your opinion."

Light made sure that he looked adequately shocked. "Was anyone hurt?" he said, remembering how beat up Sayu had appeared when he last saw her.

"No, and we must be very grateful for that. It would have been fatal had anyone been in the room at the time. Your mother is quite shaken."

Light nodded understandingly. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

His father was about to leave, before he turned back and looked Light up and down. "Did you sleep in your uniform last night? That's not like you."

Light started and glanced down at himself. He couldn't remember falling asleep, just defeating the Hollow and then… "Yes, I took a quick break from studying and must have dozed off."

His father simply raised his eyebrows slightly and nodded. "As long as you aren't working yourself too hard. I'll see you downstairs shortly."

As soon as he had gone, Light doubled back and closed the door. What had happened immediately before he fell asleep last night? He could not remember clearly and found that fact quite distressing.

It was something to do with that Shinigami. Kuchiki Rukia, she had said her name was. She had done something that caused everyone to forget last night's events. Except that he remembered. Not all of it and not clearly, but he did. If it was the case that she'd tried to erase his memory, she'd failed her task.

He allowed himself a small smile as he grabbed a fresh uniform and made his way to the shower.

Ten minutes later he was standing in the rubble of what had once been his living room. "You were right, it's amazing that no one was hurt…" he stated, setting a perplexed expression upon the scene, "and more amazing that no one heard a thing."

"Even the neighbours say that they didn't notice anything unusual." A young dark-haired police officer stepped around one of the destroyed walls and into the house. "It's as if a particularly large and violent ghost had a bone to pick with your living room wall, Chief."

"Good morning Matsuda-san." Light gave a small polite bow to the man.

"Ah, good morning Light-kun! I don't suppose you've been able to shed any light on this mystery?"

"I regret that I'm as much in the dark as any of you. It's all very strange."

"Well if Light-kun doesn't have any ideas then I don't hold much hope for the rest of us." Matsuda laughed.

"Don't be absurd, Matsuda." Light's father said firmly. "I've already called in the forensics team from the office to see if they can find any hint as to what happened here."

"Ah yes…sorry Chief." Matsuda smiled apologetically. "I'll keep checking down the street, but if even the neighbours didn't see anything then I don't see how anyone else would have." he shook his head and retreated back out of the house.

"You'd better get to school, son. Sayu's already left and there's nothing more you can do here." Chief Yagami addressed his son, who slowly nodded.

"I'll come back directly after school to help clean up." Light said before walking towards the kitchen and grabbing his school bag off the bench. "Good luck with everything here."

He made his way to school more quickly than he usually would in order to ensure a timely arrival. Light Yagami was never late.

Just as he had planned, he arrived in class as the first bell was ringing and took the remaining seat by the window.

"Cutting it a bit fine, aren't we Yagami?" whispered an assertive female voice from behind him. "For a minute there I thought you were going to be late for the first day in your life."

Light turned his head slightly and smirked at the short haired girl sitting behind him. Her name was Arisawa Tatsuki and they had known each other since childhood. He didn't think they were particularly close, but she was someone who he was able to have easy conversation with.

Someone was staring at him. He could feel it.

Glancing to his left, he saw Inoue Orihime, Tatsuki's best friend. She was a very kind girl and a bit of an airhead, though she did well academically.

While she was always civil, Light could tell that she really didn't like him. He found this detail intriguing as it was a well known fact that everyone liked him. Yagami Light was simply a very charming and likable person. He knew it too.

Inoue gave him a small smile and nod and turned her eyes firmly towards the teacher.

Light raised his eyebrows slightly and did the same. It wasn't her eyes that he could feel staring at him, but he decided not to bother himself with it.

He had more important things to dwell upon. Like how he could find that Shinigami again. He had experienced a taste of her power and now needed more.

From what he could deduce, Shinigamis could not be seen by normal people, only those with high spiritual sense such as himself. Despite this, they could physically affect the world just as anyone else could.

And they were powerful. As soon as he'd felt the Shinigami force enter him, destroying the Hollow had been effortless. He had felt completely invincible and needed to feel that way again. Just thinking of all the things he could change with that power…he would be like a God…

A God of Death.

He was brought back to reality by a piece of chalk flung against his head.

"Mister National-Exam-Topper-Yagami, pay attention! You represent our whole school, so don't sit there daydreaming!" the teacher said in an annoyed tone as the class snickered.

Light smiled and brushed off his hair where the chalk had hit. "Sorry sensei."

The teacher shook her head and recommenced teaching the class. Light almost rolled his eyes; not listening in one class would not pull him off his pedestal by any stretch of the imagination.

Eventually the bell rang for lunch time.

"Mizuiro told me that there was a giant hole in your house, Light!" was the first thing that came to Light's ears as he stood from his seat. He picked the overly loud voice as Asano Keigo's without turning around.

"What? Is that true, Yagami?" Tatsuki said disbelievingly. Light sighed. He'd hoped not to have to discuss the matter.

"Yes, that's why I was late. Father woke me up this morning and told me that something had smashed through our living room wall." he explained.

"Think it was a car or something?" Keigo asked a fascinated look on his face as he, leant over Light's desk.

"It can't have been a car; the hole wasn't at the front of the house." Kojima Mizuiro chimed in as he joined the group around Light's desk. He passed Light's house on the way to school so they often walked to school together. It was no wonder he had seen the damage.

"It's a real mystery." Light said, hoping to exit from the conversation.

"Your father's a high up police officer though, isn't he? He'd be able to get heaps of people in to find out what happened."

"Yeah…we'll have to wait and see." Light said before a soft cough drew his attention away.

"Ah…are you Yagami-kun?" came an innocuous female voice from behind Light. He turned and set his eyes upon the girl who he most wished to see at that time. He couldn't believe that she had actually come to him.

"You…" a small grin tried to force its way onto his face but he suppressed it. "I apologise, but do I know you?"

"My name is Kuchiki Rukia, nice to meet you." She smiled.

"Ah, this is Kuchiki-san! She transferred here today. It's a weird time, but her family was in a situation where they had to move suddenly…" Mizuiro introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you." Light gave a small bow, his eyes flashing.

"As it's my first day, could you show me around the school? The teacher told me that you would be a good person to ask." Rukia said politely.

Light, of course, nodded. He couldn't help but be amazed by his luck as they walked, side by side, out of the classroom.

"I can't believe how lucky he is with girls!" Keigo lamented as soon as Light had left the room. "Why do they all clamber to be with him and not the super handsome and masculine Asano Keigo?!"

"You're too loud." Mizuiro sighed as Inoue edged towards Tatsuki uncertainly.

"Is it ok to let Kuchiki-san go off with Yagami-san like that?" she whispered to her best friend hesitantly.

"Honestly Orihime, I don't know what you have against Yagami! He's a nice guy. He isn't about to take her out the back and murder her." Tatsuki rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"I suppose so…" Inoue continued to stare out the classroom doorway uncertainly.

Rukia followed Light outside. They walked in silence until they came to a deserted area behind one of the school buildings.

"Mister National-Exam-Topper eh?" was the first thing out of her grinning mouth. "Son of a high ranking police officer? Don't you have it made!"

"I don't have it made. I worked hard to get where I am." Light said simply.

"Ah, yeah…" Rukia said, frowning slightly.

"Let's get straight to the point. Why are you here, Shinigami? I would have thought you'd go back to your Soul Society since the Hollow was defeated." Light said, making sure that he sounded a little bit annoyed by her presence. In order to get the upper hand he would not reveal that he had been attempting to work out a way to find her.

"Ah…there lies the problem." Rukia said, glancing down in slight embarrassment. "Only Shinigami can enter Soul Society. Right now I am not able to return there because I have lost my Shinigami powers."

Light's eyes lit up with delight for an instant, before he evened his expression.

"Are you saying that I still have the powers of a Shinigami?" he asked, hardly daring to believe his luck. He didn't feel any different to how he had previously, but that didn't seem to mean a thing.

"Yes. Last night you took almost all of my powers. Your soul has the power of a Shinigami while I barely have any abilities left and am even forced to use this artificial body." Rukia stared at her hand regretfully.

There was a moment's pause when the two stood there in silence.

"What do you want from me?" Light asked, a suspicious edge to his voice. Rukia grinned and raised a finger to his chest.

"Until my powers return, you will have to take over my Shinigami duties!"

Inside, Light could hardly believe his luck. Outside, he donned a sceptical expression.

"I cannot be held responsible for your carelessness. As you know, I can the top student in Japan and I must spend a great deal of time studying. I do not have the time to be running around fighting monsters-"

"The job must be done though, or many people will be put in danger!"

"Let me finish. I do not have the time to be running around fighting monsters… without getting something in return."

Rukia cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"Agreeing to help you perform your Shinigami duties is no small matter. I can only imagine that it would involve a lot of time and a great deal of danger. This is something that I cannot accept without conditions."

"What sort of conditions?"

"Independence. If I'm going to take on this job I cannot afford to be reliant on you. Show me how to become a Shinigami and instruct me on how to fight. I will be guided by you, but I will not be ordered about by you."

Rukia crossed her arms and gave Light a long stare. "Yes, I suppose that sounds fair."

Light gave Rukia a warm smile. "Then it is a deal then?"

Rukia couldn't help but return the expression. "Deal."