What has it been, a year and a half? My, how the time flies…heheh…. :/

Death Note…on my desk….

It took only a second for the words to make sense in Light's mind. The shock broke his collected character, and he couldn't stop himself from glancing over to his left. Sure enough, the solid ebony cover stared back, laying on his desk. The absolute contrast in the title scrawled over the top made it practically impossible to not know it was a shinigami's notebook.

L…is dead. He should be dead. But he's back! His insanity, slowly coming away from its restraints in the back of his consciousness, laughed at his situation. Haha… He's back for me, and only me! He knows! He knows… Of all things, I left the notebook out…

It only lasted a moment, but Light snapped back to reality and glared at the detective. If he lost it now, he could be on death row in an hour, and then he would never reach supremacy.

"I know you are trying to think of another excuse for having that notebook within your room, but you won't be able to." Once again, Light could not shake those cobalt eyes; now L didn't even need to blink. He watched him, pressuring the teenager to challenge him, to choose his next words carefully. "Check and mate, Light-kun. You are Kira. Case closed."

He tried to stay calm; he really did, but his frustration boiled over into a rage that only wanted to break L's constant stare, to force him to look away with one deft swing. He kept reminding himself that he already failed at doing that once, and there was no way he was going to make a fool of himself by trying again.

Shaggy hair fell into his eyes as the detective's head tipped to one side. A ghost of a smirk, a victorious smirk, appeared on his lips.

Irritated, Light responded to buy a precious minute. "You have no proof."

"This is just repetitive, now, Light," sighed L. "Of course you remember when I found you in Kanto. Kira's killing schedule matched that of a student, and the change in that pattern meant Kira had access to police files, and so forth. There are enough similarities between you and the killer to finally end this case."

"Oh yeah? Try going to the police with that. Mere coincidences," Light scoffed.

L finally closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Come now, I thought it was a well-known fact that I am dead, and even though I'm here right now, you know that I cannot interact with the world."

Light froze, his mind snapping back to its usual speed. Of course…. He's dead, and the dead can't interact with the living. The only reason I can see him is possibly the Note, which must also be why he can touch me. But as a ghost, he can't do anything.

"You can't go to the police," he realized, that fact giving him a foothold on the situation. "Of course you can't; you're not a physical entity. Even if you did have proof, you couldn't bring it forward."

"Unfortunately, no, I couldn't." The spirit did not seem surprised, nor did he appear threatened by Light's advantage. Instead, he was watching for his opponent's response, as if he had been waiting for him to come to this conclusion.

Light thought he had a definite victory, but if L was already aware of his setbacks, then why did he even come back? Was it just to confirm Kira's identity to set his soul to rest? No, he had that figured out when he died. Hell, he had suspected the perfect, straight-A student from the start.

He went with what he had. "No one else can see you, so even though you were right about everything, no one will ever know." He spoke slowly, dropping his façade and allowing a sardonic grin to cross his face. "This epilogue may have been a surprise, but I still win, L. You were a marvelous adversary, but unless you come bearing a 'Life Note,' I think you're done."

His opponent was still for a moment before he lifted a hand to thumb his lower lip. A smile didn't even bother trying to hide itself behind his hand. "That's all I needed to hear," he said softly, watching the victory drain from Light's face.

In the silence, they heard a quiet wheezing, which in no time developed into an overzealous cackle. Such a cacophony coming from his shinigami bothered Light, returning his previous anxiety and trepidation. Ryuk's mirth meant there was still something else that he couldn't see….

L stepped towards him, causing him to shift back. "'Why is he here?' you're wondering right about now," he stated, stepping a second time. "You're thinking, 'No one can see him. He can't talk to people. He can't even interact with the world.'"

Step. "Why am I here? Because of the Note."

Step. "You forget that you can see me."

Step. "I am talking to you right now."

Step. "And I was able to touch you, wasn't I?"

With another step, Light was against the wall with cobalt eyes in front of him. "So I can still win, so long as you go to the police yourself and confess."

The teen swallowed. Such confidence threatened to make him nervous, so he smirked to cover it. "Oh yeah?" he countered with more gusto than he felt. "What makes you think I would ever do that? I still have a mission to complete."

L did not respond, watching Light for his next movement. Light couldn't break his stare, and under it his cover crumbled. He glared back, feeling literally and mentally cornered and unable to see a way to best the situation. The room still echoed with demonic laughter, a macabre but fitting atmosphere that further unsettled him. What does that blue-eyed panda of a ghost have up his sleeve?

Then he froze.

His chest felt cold. The sensation quickly spread through his skin, into his stomach and shoulders. Finally, he realized L's hand was pushing against him, right over his heart, and even through his shirt, he could tell that the form did not have blood pumping through it's flesh. It might not have even been flesh; it felt too cold to be so.

"What…?" Light breathed, finding it difficult to muster the energy to speak. He had never felt so cold, and it was making him more lethargic by the second.

Stealing a glance up at the elder, he saw the mask of indifference that he loathed so much, save for slightly narrowed eyes that revealed bits of emotion: malice, curiosity, and a suppressed sadness.

A flicker in those blue eyes was the only warning Light got before the hand slipped, sinking into his chest. He gasped, eyes wide and vision blurring. He wanted to pull away, to get away from that uncomfortable, unnatural feeling, as if mud were slipping through his skin. It only made the cold worse: his heart had turned to ice and had frozen the blood throughout his whole body.

"Do you know why you're going to turn yourself in?" the shade asked sotto voce. Light couldn't answer; he couldn't even shudder at the sensation, and he barely had enough energy to look at the other.

"I think you know why."

Then L blurred, and his form dissolved and dissipated before Light's eyes.

It offered not even a moment's relief before he felt as though he had jumped into ice water. Every hair, every pore on his skin prickled, his body freezing more than he thought possible, his throat, his neck and back chilling to the point of burning.

And just as it happened, he quickly lost all feeling and senses, and his world went black.

Nnggh….

Sun, just shut up already….

Light groaned as he rolled over, arm shielding his eyes from the sunshine spilling through his window. The bed creaked softly under him, and the movement folded and creased the relatively neat blankets.

Even though he was just pulled out of a dreamless sleep, it only took his brilliant mind a few seconds to realize something wasn't right.

I don't remember falling asleep last night, Light thought. His arm slid away as his eyes began to adjust to the morning sun. Wait, he noticed, I had a button-down on last night. I'm wearing a tee now.

Curiosity and confusion rising, he struggled to sit up on the edge of his mattress. His hand found the corner of the blankets and threw them against the wall behind him, intending to fix them later.

Instead of his tan slacks from yesterday, sweatpants covered his legs. The teen recalled putting a few pairs near the front of his closet for the coming winter months. Even though he didn't remember changing clothes, he was glad he did; he was cold, and his bare fingertips and toes were close to numb.

Rather than get up right away, Light tried to remember what had happened last night. After talking with his friends, he had come home to a special dinner...in honor of L. Yeah, L definitely had something to do with it... But what? A dull throbbing in the back of his head kept his thoughts muddled, and it doubled in magnitude whenever he thought of the shaggy-haired detective. But why is it that I remember him with...blue hair?

The teen groaned and pushed himself into a standing position. He swayed a bit, unstable, before heading to the bathroom across the hall. His limbs felt slow and too heavy, and if he wasn't overworking his brain by trying to piece together the events of the previous night, he would give in and go back to sleep.

Closing the door behind him, Light gripped the edges of the sink, glad to be able to rest some of his weight on its surface. He still was missing something crucial: declared something that sounded more 'Light' than 'Kira' to his father, went to his room, wrote in the notebook, conversed with Ryuk—speaking of which, where was the shinigami?—and then...he saw someone.

The throbbing in his head stopped abruptly, causing the teen to sigh in relief. He tore his eyes from the white porcelain of the sink and glanced up at the mirror...and couldn't look away.

His reflection had crimson hair and blood red eyes.

He pulled back in surprise, right arm whipping in front of his face on reflex. At least...

That's what he instinctively wanted to do. But he was stuck in place.

A frigidness bloomed at the base of his skull, spreading through his head and dripping down his spine, extending into each finger, every muscle, and in a matter of moments he was completely numb. Light wanted to blink, to run away, to avoid staring at this unfamiliar reflection, but he was helpless, bound by some invisible force. And that started to scare him.

But then Light felt a shift, a slight twitch in his form that was not dictated by him, and he saw all emotion in his face evaporate.

His eyes were flooded with cobalt, washing away the blood.

What the hell is this? Light attempted to yell, but when the action was not mimicked by his mouth, the lack of control discouraged him. Can't move, can't talk, and now I'm seeing things!

"There's no need to shout," he heard his own voice reply quietly. "I would still hear your thoughts if you whispered them, or the mental equivalent, at least."

The teen reeled back, 'paling' from the sensation: His body just answered him, no longer responding to his control and acting on its own. Or under someone else...

It seemed preposterous, but his new hair color, and those blue eyes, cobalt eyes staring at his reflection, evaluating him—

It clicked. Last night, L returned as a spirit, and then Light remembered he did...something. This something. But he had to be sure.

L, did you possess me?

Ah, very good, Light-kun. L's voice rang through his mind, confirming the teenager's suspicions. It is a bit surreal to have to analyze a situation on the supernatural plane, but you are correct.

Light scowled as L continued in his monotonous, confident way. As it turns out, much of the lore on ghosts and shades of the dead is true. I cannot interact with normal people, but because you are my murderer, you can see me. My form is intangible, but instead of passing through you, I was able to move your arm. Now that I am one hundred percent certain that you are Kira, I can't just let you walk free while I watch. Truthfully, I wasn't sure if this would work.

It couldn't be. He would not believe it. He couldn't lose to something as irrational as spiritual possession. I must be dreaming, Light muttered.

"That's what they all say, Light-kun," L sighed, speaking aloud again, which only further grounded Kira in his disadvantageous situation. He finally moved, leaning the teenaged body towards the mirror. The fingers twitched and rose to glide over the jaw line. "It's a bit cliché at this point, don't you think?"

Stop that. Light was seething, his temper rising every time he heard his own voice talk to him or watched his limbs move without his consent. There's no way any human was meant to go through something like this.

"Possibly."

This is cruel and unusual punishment!

"Mm-hmm…," L hummed as he picked up a brush, lazily running it through the nest of hair on his head, watching the mirror with those cobalt eyes, those hazy, unnaturally azure, alien eyes….

You bastard!

The hand stopped. Fingers uncurled at awkward angles, letting the brush fall and clatter into the sink.

Light scowled, having to focus just to keep control over his hand. It felt as though a flame was under his fingertips, just barely warming his skin. He couldn't move it, but at least he could hold it in place. I said stop that.

L looked at the limb before staring back into the mirror, coolly, collectedly, yet with obvious threat. Light hated that, but he would have maliciously returned the same look if he could. Like such a pretentious ass, you're acting like you've won, he growled, but don't forget that this is my body, a fact that will still stand whether you're here or not.

Neither moved, each watching the other through the mirror.

After a tense minute, a light but pronounced smirk adorned the features of the blue-eyed being in the glass. "I see you've thrown down the gauntlet," the shade muttered. "I'll be seeing you around, Light Yagami."

And with that, the blue in his eyes faded back to maroon, and then the hazy color disappeared altogether. Warm blood ran under his skin once more, his heart racing faster than normal as he hyperventilated from the shock of being thrust back into control. Quickly, he thought over the drastic turn of events presented in the last twelve hours, weighing his new odds.

Light took a deep breath, leaning on the sink, still staring into the mirror, and then he slowly breathed out.

He could lose. He could be facing death. For the first time in a long while, he felt fear.

…I had a perfect ending to this chapter, but then I had to run and didn't have time to write it down, and now I've forgotten it. :(

And now, the hard part: I actually have to outline the rest of this story. I only had the idea up until this point, but now I need to think of where this plot is going. Good thing I have the summer to work on my writing. (among other things, too….)

~S