Hi. BabySealLover here, with a new fanfic, AGAIN... I'm writing a few others. But I couldn't help myself. This one has been on the table for months now but I just haven't been able to decide where I wanted it to go. However, I now think I'm getting somewhere with it... and I wanted to share the prologue with you! I hope you get some enjoyment out of it. Basically, it was just an idea that I had and couldn't shake. It features an OC, known for now as Sayaka... so if you don't like OCs, it probably isn't the story for you. But if you do - great! I hope that you like mine.

Anyway, let me know what you think if you have time. Hopefully I'll update again soon... since I'm a college student, it can get busy around here...

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

Prologue: Fate

"Can I get you anything else?"

"No, but thank you."

"No problem. Enjoy!"

Sayaka smiled at the older couple sitting at the table in front of her and took a short bow before heading off quickly, notepad in hand, to another table across the room, where a single girl sat quietly in her chair. She took a deep breath as she approached—the café was busy today and keeping her on her toes. "Excuse me," Sayaka said, keeping her cool and reciting her lines perfectly, as she had said them dozens of times before. "What would you like to order today?"

The girl looked at her menu for a few seconds, mumbling to herself as if she was feeling uncomfortable or rushed into making a decision. Definitely the high-stress type. Sayaka was about to open her mouth and suggest a few extra minutes to think about what she wanted, but then the girl glanced up and replied, "I think I'd like a hot coffee. Uh, with just a little bit of milk and two scoops of sugar. And that's it." She didn't smile, but her eyes were warm and alert. The expression she wore eased a little bit of the tension that always built up in Sayaka's chest when she dealt with a customer.

"Coming right up," Sayaka told her, flashing another quick smile before moving onto her next assignment.

About half way across the room she ran into one of her co-workers who currently had two plates and a glass in her hands. This one was still new and hadn't been adjusted to all the chaos just yet. Stopping her and gripping the items gently, Sayaka murmured, "Here, let me get those."

The new girl's eyes widened in surprise and she shook her head swiftly. "Oh—no, I'm fine, it's all right!"

"I'm heading back to the kitchen anyway," Sayaka dismissed with a quick shrug. "Go ahead, you have orders to take care of." The girl seemed hesitant for just a few seconds, but since the number one rule at this joint was to never waste time, she relented and thanked her quickly, letting her take the plates and glass. Then Sayaka, adjusting her position so that she didn't trip or lose the dishes (God forbid), poked her head between the double doors to the kitchen, where several other of her co-workers workers scurried about, cooking and baking and cleaning with a pep in their step. "Hot coffee, milk and two scoops of sugar," she said as she kicked the doors open, confident enough in her memory to not have to stop and look at her notepad. She walked in with the dishes to set them in the sink while one of the few guys on their staff was in the middle of washing another load.

"Coming!" one of the girls, Maru, called in response to her order, and immediately sprang into action making coffee for the most recent guest. Taking orders effectively here was only half the battle. It was also about living up to and preferably exceeding expectations. And every cup had to be 100 percent fresh at this café for Tomone (the boss) to be in a good mood. It was always tough competition, since there were other café establishments in the area threatening to steal this one's thunder. So according to Tomone, all these workers had to stay at least one step ahead. It was inconvenient at times, but those were orders and no one dared mess with the boss.

"You girls keeping them satisfied out there today?" Tomone asked as she stuck a batch of pastries in an oven. Her voice was soft, but also firm and steady. With her small stature and delicate facial features, she certainly didn't look the part of a manager, even at a little café like this. But she was tough in her own right and everyone knew she deserved her position.

Sayaka nodded in response, giving her boss a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am. As always."

"Good girl," Tomone said with a grin. "Make sure to watch your step, though. We wouldn't want a repeat of yesterday if you know what I mean."

Maru, who was in the midst of stirring sugar into a hot cup of coffee, shot Tomone a dark glare. "Boss, please quit teasing!"

"Oh, no," Tomone said, almost as if she were on the brink of laughter, "You're never living that down. I'm holding that one over your head for a while yet." She clapped her one hand down on the counter firmly. "Now, hurry it up, we have customers waiting!"

"Yes, ma'am," Sayaka and Maru both said simultaneously, causing them to look at one another briefly and laugh. Luckily, Tomone had a sense of humor and only smiled and went back to work instead of scolding them for silliness. Maru then came over, her brown eyes glistening, and handed the cup to Sayaka. "Careful, it's hot. Let the customer know I mixed it with extra love today, too, all right, Sayaka?"

She nodded, grinning in return even though the same thing said by someone else might have made her scoff. Maru's giddiness tended to be oddly contagious at both the best and worst of times. "I'll tell her. Thank you."

Heading back out to the dining area, Sayaka approached the customer's table and placed the coffee cup in front of her, careful not to spill it. "Looks like that will be 300 yen. I'll be back with your official bill momentarily."

The girl granted her a tiny smile and a nod before picking up her coffee and taking a sip. The hot drink right out of the brewer probably would have scalded Sayaka's mouth, but this girl didn't seem to mind the heat. Instead, her whole face lit up with happiness as she swallowed. "Wow, this is really good! Thank you!"

"I'll let the one who made it know you enjoyed it so much," Sayaka replied, slightly amused. "I'm sure she will be thrilled."

And she certainly was, as expected. But the amazing thing about Maru was that she was always thrilled about everything. And being appreciated had this way of making her day a festival, even if a thousand other obstacles were in her way. Despite her bubbly nature, Tomone still usually tried to keep her away from the customers due to her clumsy and sometimes forgetful habits. But she usually made up for it with her enthusiasm. The kitchen was her sanctuary and Sayaka was fairly certain that everyone liked it that way. Instead, Sayaka took on the burden of waiting tables most days, along with a small band of two or three other girls. But it wasn't an unbearable set of tasks. Sayaka could play the part.

Oh, could she ever.

"We just had a bunch of people leave and there aren't enough tables to keep people coming in, so I'm switching you over to cleaning off tables for a bit," Tomone said, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the cleaning supplies. Sayaka nodded in agreement, but inside she was sighing. Seems like there are never quite enough hands to get stuff done around here…

"Earlier I heard a couple of kids out there talking about Kira," the café's self-proclaimed baking specialist Yori said to Maru as Sayaka walked by. The mention of Kira vaguely caught her attention, and she pretended to be interested in grabbing cloth and anti-bacterial soap while she listened to them talk.

"No!" Maru gasped. "Don't say his name! It freaks me out."

"Then what should I call him?" Yori asked.

"Just don't talk about him at all! I don't want to hear it. At first it was just this weird, crazy thing, but it's serious now. And I want no part of it."

"Oh, come on," Yori said with a laugh. "Doesn't it intrigue you just a little? The danger and the mystery? In any case—I don't watch a lot of news, but apparently he's just been killing criminals. So as long as you haven't been robbing any banks or hiding dead bodies in your car, I think you should be safe."

Maru swatted Yori's arm. "Oh, stop it!" But then they both got a chuckle out of it anyway.

Yori continued, "I'm not even sure I believe it's a real person. I mean, how could anyone cause the deaths of all those criminals in such a short amount of time? Maybe the media's just messing with us."

"Maybe," Maru murmured. "I think we should get Sayaka on the case!"

At that, Sayaka's head shot up and she snatched up the items she needed for swiping tables. "What?"

"True!" Yori said with a smile. "I mean, you've got a better head on your shoulders than the lot of us. Remember how she figured out who was stealing money from us back in the spring?"

As Maru laughed and agreed with enthusiasm, Sayaka simply shook her head and rolled her eyes. "That was entirely different. Even if this 'Kira' is a real person, or group of people for that matter, here's no way I'd have the gall or the brain to track down a serial killer."

"I bet you could," Yori said. "We could all do it together! Waitresses by day, super secret evil-vanquishing heroes by night! It'd be epic. Hey, I bet that would make a great anime, too."

"Right," Sayaka replied, with just a tinge of mock excitement in her tone. "Other than the fact that it's a horrible idea, it's a great idea!"

"That's the spirit," Yori said, pumping her fist.

Maru giggled. "All right, suddenly the prospect of Kira doesn't really scare me as much."

"He shouldn't," Sayaka said, throwing her wash rag over her shoulder. "I'm sure law enforcement will find a way to take care of it. And if not—well, life and liberty as you know it will be over, but at least we'll still have cake and coffee to look forward to." With a shrug at the sound of Yori and Maru's continuous laughter, she added, "I'd better get to work on a few tables before Tomone comes over to yell at me. I'll be back."

She headed back out the kitchen doors and focused in on a few tables in the front of the café that needed cleaning off. Starting with the dishes, she scooped up all the plates and silverware at one of the tables and brought them to the back before returning to wipe down the table surface. Because there were currently no clean and/or available tables for new customers, she had to be quick so that she could start seating people again when they came in.

So she spent a few minutes focusing on the task at hand so that she could get into a rhythm and have the tables cleaned as soon as possible. But it didn't take long before something came along to break her concentration. While Sayaka was in the middle of wiping the excess crumbs off a table near the outside door, a voice from nearby caught her attention.

"Excuse me? Miss? Do you have any tables ready?"

She turned to look up, and saw a young man standing less than a meter away, eyes bright and posture erect. In fact, he was quite handsome. From the uniform he wore, he also appeared to be a high school student who lived not far away. Probably right here in the city if she had to guess. But it was the difference between his polite inquiry and the way he presented himself with such grace and confidence that threw Sayaka for a bit of a loop at first.

But quickly remembering her manners, she put down her wash rag and stood up straight, and then smiled sweetly at him. "Oh—um, of course! In fact, if you could wait for just a moment, I'll get this one right here ready for you. Is that okay?"

The boy nodded in response and smiled back, although she was sure it looked far too automatic to be genuine. "That sounds great! Thank you—" He glanced over and peered briefly at her name tag. "Sayaka."

If asked, Sayaka would tell anyone that she had a nice job. She enjoyed the company of most of the people she worked with, and she still owed Tomone a great debt for all of her kindness this past year. Sayaka didn't mind taking orders from strangers and bringing them drinks and unhealthy food despite her occasional bouts of shyness; she didn't mind counting change or washing dishes. She had a warm bed and a shower and three square meals to look forward to every day. The work shifts were tough at times but not unbearable. Even her skills in Japanese had greatly improved since working at the café full-time since she had to interact with Japanese-speaking customers regularly. She could do this almost every day with hardly any trouble.

But there was something off about this guy that made her wary—something that made her feel like she had to stay on her guard at all times.

And as she got the young boy's table ready, feelings of unease lingered in her stomach even as she smiled and asked him for his order. "I think I'll just have a hot coffee," he said after graciously refusing a menu.

"Okay," Sayaka said with a nod, writing down the order on her notepad. "Would you like any milk? Sugar?"

"No, I just take black." The words fell off his tongue like butter, as if he'd said them as many times a day as Sayaka uttered the words, "What would you like to order today?" Perhaps he ordered the same thing wherever he went.

Nevertheless, she smiled as always and said, "Coming right up," without even batting an eye. Those were Tomone's orders. Keep smiling, no matter what happens. Unless a customer is an asshole, in which case I'll come help you chase 'em out.

Of course, the high school kid hadn't done anything to deserve that treatment, so there was no reason to complain.

Shaking off any residual discomfort, Sayaka tucked her pen behind her ear and headed off to the kitchen. And as Maru got to work making one more extra special cup of coffee, Sayaka made the quick decision to forget about the feeling altogether. It would only distract her from her work. And generally, she tried to stay in the habit of pushing nuisances aside.

If only she realized that this tiny nuisance was about to turn into something far, far greater.