Hey, everyone, and welcome to my newest chapter of Death Wish. Sorry it's been a while. Life happens I guess. But I'm back with a new chapter, titled Only Human. In this chapter, told mostly in Light's perspective, Light goes back to the cafe in an effort to connect with Sayaka, because after the bus hijacking he wants to make sure that she's as clueless as everyone else.

Anyway, thanks for favoriting/following etc, and I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

Only Human

Light knew little of Sayaka's work schedule, so he was taking a gamble visiting her café this afternoon. The girl had been on his mind almost constantly since they'd spoken two days ago following the bus hijacking. He'd gone over it again and again in his head, wondering if it was the best option to approach her. He had no interest in forming any unnecessary attachments, nor did he want to make her suspicious of him.

But she was a smart girl. He saw the wheels turning in her head after the accident—he saw the way she observed the world around her with such a keen eye and a bit of skepticism. Now that they'd met and become acquainted, he felt he had little choice but to gain some extra insight on her person, just in case.

Not to mention his mother would be glad to see him getting out and socializing more often.

"Table for one, please."

He got lucky. She was here.

"Sure thing," she said with a soft smile. "Right this way."

As she led him over to a table, dark hair bouncing behind her in a short pony-tail, Light said, "You look well."

The girl set a menu down at a table. It sat by a side window, away from the door. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" He found it odd that she genuinely looked confused by his question.

With a chuckle, he replied, "I just mean because of the other day. Seemed like it was hard on you. To be truthful, I was a bit worried."

This time it was her turn to be surprised. "Oh. Um… well, I'm pretty resilient most of the time." She scratched her cheek with her index finger, a gesture he thought to be quite endearing. He didn't say as much, of course.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it." Then, he decided to take a slightly more risky approach. "When do you get off work? Are you free later?"

She tilted her head, still keeping up a professional appearance—but he picked up on her suspicion. "Why do you ask?"

He cleared his throat. "I just—thought maybe you'd like to walk with me for a while."

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

There was a short pause.

Damn. He hadn't given that one much thought. Most women in their right minds wouldn't agree to go anywhere with a guy who was already taken. Not that he considered himself "taken" to begin with, but Sayaka had seen him with Yuri. Obviously, she was bound to make that assumption.

All right, back up…

With a small smile, he said, "Well, actually, it isn't—really all that serious. But—I think you have the wrong idea."

"You mean you aren't hitting on me?" she asked.

"No, no… I just—I thought you were interesting and I wanted to get to know you. I thought maybe we could be, you know, friends."

Sayaka didn't look entirely convinced at first, and for a minute he thought she might actually refuse. But then, pulling out her notepad and a pen from behind her ear, she said, "Okay. I get off in an hour. We can hang out after that. Cool? Now, you need to order something before my boss comes to yell at me for lollygagging."

So Light ordered a black coffee and Sayaka took his menu away, and once again Light smiled, having gotten his way.

"I like her," Ryuk said, leaning his arm on the table across from Light. "She's got fire. You start messin' around with that one and you'll have to keep her on a pretty tight leash."

Light snorted, casting his attention to the other waitresses in the room. As he'd already decided, he wasn't interested in making a lasting connection with this woman. He only wanted to determine her potential to become a threat to him. That was all. As long as he was able to figure out her full name, he would have the advantage either way. But he certainly couldn't afford to be reckless. Getting Raye Penber's name had been risky enough. An oversight was something he could not afford.

After his drink came, Light spent another half hour sipping his drink and staring out the window beside him. Despite the occasional pointless comment, Ryuk didn't attempt to annoy him to death today as he usually did. So for the most part he simply listened to the dull hum of the voices in the café mixed with some faint clanking and beeping in the back kitchen. He enjoyed the calm atmosphere.

Eventually Light glanced at his watch and realized it was nearly 5:00, the end of Sayaka's work shift, so he quickly paid for his drink and stepped outside the café. He thought it would be more courteous to her to wait outside rather than leave with her in front of all her coworkers.

It was a few minutes after when Sayaka appeared. She'd taken the time to change out of her work uniform, although he was amused to find that she simply changed into a jacket and a pair of loose jeans. Apparently she held little regard for her appearance in front of others.

"Hey, I'm glad you decided to join me," Light said in a friendly tone, falling into step with her on the sidewalk. He had to adjust his strides to make sure he didn't walk too fast for her, as his legs were several inches longer and he was quite a bit taller.

The girl shrugged, pulling her purse up on her shoulder. "I didn't have anything better to do."

Light chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you were willing to grace me with some of your precious free time."

He thought he saw her smile then. "So, where are we going, exactly?"

"I didn't really have anything in mind. I just thought it was a nice afternoon for a walk." Perhaps he should have come up with some sort of destination before. But frankly, he wasn't sure what Sayaka liked to do.

But she quickly put him at ease. "Well, you're in luck. I happen to greatly enjoy taking walks."

"Me too," Light replied. "It helps me think."

"Hey, me too," she said, causing them both to laugh, although part of the sound of it was drowned out by a bus that passed them by. It was too bad. Light enjoyed the sound of Sayaka's laugh. It was soft, but full and clear at the same time. It was neither too restrained nor too shrill, and he liked that.

After the following few seconds of silence, Light glanced at her and said, "So, uh—I just wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier. I mean, if I came off the wrong way about wanting to hang out with you. The last thing I wanted was to make it weird."

"No, not at all," she said, putting her hands in her pockets as a breeze rushed past them, "I should apologize for jumping to conclusions. But for the record, I thought you were interesting, too. And—in any case, I guess it's a good thing you weren't hitting on me, because I'm pretty sure I'm too old for you." Her tone was teasing as she spoke.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty."

She said it as if she'd rehearsed it a dozen times. Light wondered if people asked for her age often. It was possible. To his eyes, she appeared a bit younger than she was.

He smirked a little. "Well, I'm going to be eighteen in February, so it's really not that big a difference."

"Hm," she said. "I guess not. And I have to say, you do seem older than that. I mean, intellectually. You don't really remind me of other guys your age. Or even my age."

"Hey, cut us a break," Light teased, pretending he didn't hear Ryuk's chuckles in the background. "We're more fragile than you'd think."

"Oh, I know," she replied almost playfully, but the mood shifted yet again when her smile faded slightly and she turned her head away. Had he touched some sort of nerve?

Whatever it was, however, she didn't dwell on it for long and simply changed the subject. "So—since you're in your third year of high school, what are you planning on doing when you graduate?"

Light sighed. "You know—you're only the millionth person to ask me that question this month."

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Sayaka reached up and absently scratched her cheek again. "Sorry—just seemed like a good topic for conversation."

He sighed. But although he was tempted to curse this question out of existence, he chose to see it as merely another opportunity. He knew that to earn this girl's trust, he would have to be open with her and present himself as worthy of said trust. Sharing his own personal experiences and goals would encourage her to share hers as well.

And so he continued, "That's okay. Actually, I'm planning on going to college—and then later going into the police force."

Sayaka raised her eyebrows in response, but then nodded in approval. "Wow. Nice."

"Yeah, well—my dad's a police officer so—I guess it was a little pre-determined."

"But that's great," she said, granting him a short, closed-lipped smile. "I mean, you're clearly an intelligent guy, and you've got the ambition. It sounds like it'll be good for you. I was, uh—at one point that was my plan, too."

Light's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "Wait. The police force? You?"

Her laugh was half-hearted. "Yeah. Little old me."

Struggling in his mind to understand how exactly someone planning on joining the police ended up as a café waitress, Light asked, "Why didn't you?"

She shrugged. "There was a time I wanted it more than anything. It was basically my dream ever since I started high school."

"And—what changed?"

"My parents passed away."

Light fell silent this time. Very rarely was Light Yagami left speechless in conversation, but he'd never had to try to express his condolences to someone who told him that both their parents were dead. And she was only twenty years old? How long had she been supporting herself on her own?

As his mind swam with thoughts, she continued softly, "It's amazing how much your perspective changes when you lose the people who are supposed to be cheering you on. I guess in a way, changes that happen around you, change you as a person, too. I thought I had it all figured out, but now—I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I feel like I'm just—going through the motions, forever walking in place. No direction. No motive. Just nothing."

Abruptly, Sayaka stopped and pressed her lips into a thin line. Turning toward Light, she grimaced, as if she was ashamed she even spoke. "Sorry, that probably sounded crazy. I didn't mean to go off like that."

God, she had no idea.

"No, no," Light said quickly. "You don't have to apologize. I completely understand what you mean."

She blinked and brushed her bangs away from her face. "Really?"

Light nodded. "Yeah. Believe it or not, I think I went through the same thing for a while. I didn't really know what I wanted to do—didn't feel like I could relate to people, or like I really even belonged anywhere. And honestly, it was dull and lonely and boring, but…" He trailed off, unable to find more words in the moment.

Sayaka frowned. "So—you don't feel that way anymore?"

He met her eyes, which were wide and alert. "No, I don't."

"What changed for you?"

He considered briefly. "You know, I can't speak for everyone—but I think for me, it was really just about finding what I was meant to do." And I have…

"Oh. Brilliant," she said with a huff, clearly not satisfied.

"But you can't just sit and hope that that comes to you," Light said. "If an opportunity presents itself, you have to snatch it up and be willing to put in the work. Dreams, I think, are meant to be chased after. Not waited on."

Another short silence passed between them. During that silence, Sayaka had a thoughtful expression on her face, and she nodded slowly. "Yeah… yeah, I guess you're right." She smiled, and Light found that smile to be oddly contagious. "Wise beyond your years, Light Yagami. I actually like you."

Light and Sayaka spent the next hour walking about the city, although they really just ended up going in a big circle. And as promised, Light had the girl back to her café before dark. He liked to think he was nothing if not a gentleman when it was required of him.

As they said their goodbyes for the night, he convinced her to give him her cell phone number and she took his phone and punched it in like it was nothing. But he was even more pleasantly satisfied when he saw that she added her full name to his contact list. Sayaka Hoshigaki. He liked it. It had a nice ring to it. But more importantly, having her name gave him power, and simply the knowledge that she willingly shared it with him was proof enough that he had nothing to fear from her. She was as clueless as the rest of them.

"Anyway, thanks for the walk," she said. "It was nice. We should do it again."

"We definitely will," Light replied softly, holding up his phone briefly. "I'll shoot you a text."

"Sounds good," she concluded before nodding lightly and disappearing inside the doors.

As soon as she was gone, Light cracked a smile and slipped his phone into his pocket. Ryuk, who had spent the evening following him around as usual (although he was starting to get the hang of ignoring him) came up beside him and let out a grunt. "Well, would you look at that? Light's made a new friend. You gonna come back here tomorrow to see her?"

Light rolled his eyes as he started walking and murmured, "I'm too busy to spend every afternoon sitting around at a café."

Ryuk snickered. "I figured you'd say something like that. I just thought maybe it'd be worth a little extra time to you. Gathering how much you like her."

"I was after her name and I got it. That's all the matters."

"Yeah. Right. I could definitely tell that's what mattered half way through the evening while you were laughing and stealing second glances at her every chance you got."

Light frowned, starting to get irritated. "I was trying to gain her trust."

"You can make all the excuses you want. I've known you long enough by now to have an idea of the difference between when you're faking it and when you're being serious."

With a sigh of disgust, he muttered, "Right. Okay. So I enjoyed her company. Like I said, it doesn't matter. We might hang out again, just because I need a little downtime, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let it distract me from my task at hand."

"I didn't say it was going to," Ryuk said. "I just didn't know you were capable of human emotions. Usually, you're kind of a cold-hearted bastard."

"And for a Shinigami, you are extremely lazy and high maintenance. Now, shut up, already. We're almost to the bus stop."

Ryuk didn't ask for much. He'd placed the whole world into the hand of Light Yagami by giving him a Death Note—crossed the barriers of time and space—taken the time to explain the Death Note and its quirks to Light before he even asked.

"I do all this nice stuff for him, and what thanks do I get? None. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's no different back home."

The woman sitting beside Ryuk in the very back of the bus was texting on her phone, not paying a lick of attention to what he was saying. But since he knew Light was going to ignore him anyway, he figured he might as well switch it up and blabber on to someone else.

"I mean, I know I'm not always the softest guy," he said, crossing his long arms over his chest. "But just because I'm a Shinigami doesn't mean I don't have any feelings. Don't get me wrong—I don't really care about you or Light—or anyone else on this bus for that matter. I can't afford to waste my time caring about something as fleeting as a human life. But I'm more sensitive than I look, you know."

He let out a long sigh and slouched forward. Stuck in a rut…

Again, he didn't ask for much. In return for letting Light play God for a while, Ryuk got to eat his fill of apples whenever he wanted, and Light promised to keep things interesting for him. They were trifles, really. Although even now, despite having spent the last several weeks here on Earth with Light, he still felt—dissatisfied. Restless.

He'd told the truth, before. Light's finding of the Death Note was an even better coincidence than he'd expected. Light was bound to lose it all in the end no matter what, but that wasn't really Ryuk's problem. Even now, Ryuk couldn't decide if he thought Light was a genius or a simpleton. He had to admire the kid for his lofty goals, but ultimately he was still just a human being. He thought he would rid the world of evil and become a God?

Foolish, naïve sentimentality.

It had all become clear to him today, while Light interacted with that human girl from the café. Whether Light realized it himself, it was the most genuine Ryuk had ever seen him act with anyone. And it proved one thing: all humans were the same. They both craved the company of those who understood them—those they felt they could identify with. Light Yagami was no exception in that regard.

And the best part was, that simple human desire had a hand in blinding him to the truth standing right in front of him. The girl from the café was not at all who she appeared to be, and Light missed it entirely.

Ryuk's lips twisted into a dark smile. Sayaka Hoshigaki, indeed. Maybe I should tell him…

No. Definitely not. It wasn't as if he was obligated to divulge any unnecessary details. And besides, where was the fun in that?

"I don't know what else to tell you, Yori. It was innocent." Sayaka slipped out of her bathrobe and held her cellphone between her ear and her shoulder as she shimmied on a pair of fuzzy pajama pants. The time on her watch was 8:47, and the sound of the TV in the background drowned out any possible discomfort of silence.

Sayaka could almost see Yori rolling her eyes on the other end of the line. "Sure. That's what everyone says at first. But come on. You really think he went out of his way today for you just because he wanted to be your friend?"

She briefly put the phone on speaker and set it down on the bed so she could throw a shirt on. "I don't know. But that's what he told me. Didn't give me a reason to think otherwise. Nothing happened."

"Well, what did you guys talk about?"

Picking her phone back up and plopping down on the bed, Sayaka shrugged. "All kinds of stuff. Just getting to know each other topics, really. Like I said—it was no big deal. Hey, you were the one who wanted to get out and make more friends, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but not with hot and potentially untrustworthy men."

"You know I'm not the type of person to just jump into anything without thinking it through. I can handle myself."

Yori didn't sound convinced. "And you've had how much experience with dating, exactly?"

Sayaka hesitated. "None—but that's not the point—"

"Look, I'm just saying you should watch out for yourself, okay?" Yori said. "I probably—sound crazy here. If you've made a new friend, that's totally great and I'm happy for you! I just want to make sure you're being safe."

"I will be," Sayaka said. "And again, nothing between us. I don't even remotely see him in that way. I just—it's weird. I thought there was something off about him when we met. But today… something was different. We connected, I guess. And it was nice to be able to do that."

"Well—that's good! You should be more open with people, you know. I mean, we've all dealt with our own crap, but that doesn't mean we always have to deal with it alone."

Sayaka smiled sadly even as she replied. "Yeah, I know."

"Can I tell you something kind of personal?"

There was a short pause. "If you want to."

Yori sighed. "I actually haven't dated anyone since I was in high school." Her voice suddenly became soft and weak, which surprised Sayaka. She didn't sound nervous or uncomfortable exactly... just reflective, and perhaps a bit somber. "I met my first love during my second year. I'd dated a few guys before that, but, uh… there was this girl Erika—and we were together for a while. But when people found out we were dating, the bullying became so intense that we decided to break up. And afterward, I regretted that decision so much, because I realized it was weak and that I should have fought for her. I guess I was too afraid to just open up and be who I was. Now things are different, obviously—I've opened up a lot since then. But that's the sort of thing you don't forget—it really stays with you."

Sayaka crawled into bed and leaned back against her headrest. "You were young and still figuring stuff out—no reason to be ashamed of that. I'm sorry it cost you someone important to you, though. Sorry people can be so cruel."

Yori tsked. "That's just the way of the world, I suppose. Nowadays I try my best to make the most of it. That's why I tried to look out for you when we met! I feel like the world needs a little more kindness, you know? Anyway—all I mean by telling you this sappy stuff is, I consider you my friend and I have your back, okay? So if there's ever anything you need—anything you want to talk about—you can come to me and I will be there 100%. Got it?"

At this point Sayaka almost had tears in her eyes. Of course, she held them in so she didn't start blubbering like an idiot over the phone, but in order to speak she had to swallow hard. "Thanks," she said. "And I've totally got your back, too."

Yori laughed. "I know! Sayaka—you're a good egg. You really are. I knew it from the first time I saw you."

And for the first time in forever, Sayaka actually felt like she was a part of the world she lived in. Even if it didn't last more than one night, for once she felt her presence was truly valued—and for a meager human like her, that was the greatest gift.

Yeah, so... I guess the reason I wrote this chapter was not only to start really developing the relationship between Sayaka and Light, but also to add some significant character development. There isn't a whole lot of Sayaka's perspective in this chapter, but I guess in a sense it really isn't about her. This chapter is essentially about humanizing Light, particularly in connection to his new relationship with Sayaka. Obviously being such an abnormally intelligent guy with some serious narcissism, he doesn't relate to people easily. But I wanted to show in this chapter that he is capable of connecting, and that he can actually find joy in human interaction other than for manipulative purposes. I always thought in the original series that Light and L had a genuine connection in at least some sense despite being mortal enemies... but I wanted to explore the idea a little more here.

As you can see, I also added a little of Ryuk's perspective, and I'm sure by now the reason is pretty obvious :) I have to say, I'm going to enjoy developing his personality a little bit as well.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought! See you next time!