In your arms (Mikami)

[Kagumi Michiyo]

( so I dont get in trouble, if you hadnt seen episode 21 on, dont read this, it contains spoilers ^w^)

When she finally got admittance into the building, and made it to his office, she sat on a nearby cubicle desk in the dark with only the setting sun as her light. Kagumi bit her nail waiting for him, her hands in her knees.

Who Kagumi was now was not the same Kagumi that her friend had met in the park that fateful day. Her long black hair was longer now, tied into a loose ponytail where loops of hair fell on to her shoulders. Her wide amber eyes had matured, putting more power in them but still with a hint of childishness. She still had lack of sleep, so the dark circles remained. On her nose was a pair of thin rimmed glasses and on her teeth were braces with bright green bands. She wore a nicer sundress that tied in a halter and though long, it revealed her long track legs that led to her tennis shoes. She wasn’t a supermodel though, she had filled out slightly, so though she wasn’t oversized, she wasn’t a beanpole, quite healthy for a girl who spent years in training martial arts. Her shin was as tan as ever sowing more and more of her samoan side.

It worried her more the longer she was there. Kira killed Mello and Matt all in one night, some good friends of mine are gone because of him. Some God… Their deaths put her four years of wonder into perspective like he feared it would. She knew Mello and Matt weren’t bad, she knew L wasn’t bad, and when it happened she knew that Soichiro was not a bad man, and yet they were dead because of Kira. It made her head reel to wonder, they weren’t the bad guys. And now she feared Mikami’s connection to his ‘god’ was going to get him killed, another good man with good intentions would be killed for Kira, in his name.

She wasn’t going to let that happen.

Now that no friend was left but him, the thoughts from the 19 year old girl floated back to Megumi. All of her friends she worked so hard to get were dead, and now all who was left was Mikami, and if she lost him she didn’t know what she would do without him. He was practically her older brother for as long as she had known the prosecutor, and he had protected her from the worst. They were there for one another when no one else was there for them.

Now it was time for her to protect him, it was the least she could do for her guardian angel.

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

Raven hair still tumbled, unruly as ever, down the back of the man's neck, a little longer than it had been, but not by much. In truth, very little had changed about the looks of the Prosecutor - he was still as neat as ever, still had the same intense face behind the same dark-rimmed glasses.

Outwardly, he was almost exactly the same, albeit a few years older...except for one thing.

His eyes.

They weren't all that different to most people who looked at him. Most people still saw the same dark, angry eyes he had always had, still as prideful and as righteous as ever. No, they looked almost exactly same...only to him was there one very important difference. Now, he saw the names over the heads of passersby...now he knew how long before they would meet their end.

The Shinigami eyes.

It had felt like no time at all since Kira had sent him the notebook - since Mikami was chosen by his God. Presently, the book itself was secure in his briefcase, locked up tight and near to where he sat filling out his reports. His pen scritched neatly across his report, calm and collected as always....

Until he was interrupted by the intercom.

"Mikami - there's someone out here to see you. I'm off for the day...do ya wanna let her in and lock up yourself?"

A little frown crossed his expression. Who would show up just before work is over? He wasn't expecting anyone. Still...as much as he would rather not hamper things, he should find out who it was. What if it was a message from God?

Pressing down on the intercom, he let his voice echo through into the waiting room.

"Let her in."


The receptionist gestured towards the closed door, behind which Mikami remained at his desk. "He says to go on in. I'm out, so he'll just lock up after you leave."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Now that the wait had been staggered, the girl had become concerned with the plight of her friend. What if he didn't recognize her, she had changed so much in such a short amount of time. Would he just see her as another girl on the street? Some frightened hoodlum? She bit her lip, then felt herself start to have tears well up in the corner of her amber eyes.

But she shook it off though, she was much stronger than the girl that he met in the park, she was much stronger than the girl whose life he saved. It wouldnt be right to cry right now.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his voice, her head snapped to the intercom speaker, the source of the sound, when she motioned her into the door, Kagumi felt her heart stop, she suddenly felt a bit more nervous than she had expected.

But she stood to her feet anyway, and walkd slowly into his office, her glasses glinting in the light along with her soft amber eyes. She slipped in and closed the door, he was working, but he was almost done, so hopefully she didnt interrupt.

Though he seemed no different, now she could feel a hint of fear in her heart, but she shook it off, maybe it was more jitters.
When she spoke, her voice was now more mature.

"Hello my guardian angel."

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

Mikami was intent on his work, as always...his office rather dim. He had always kept his office a little bit dark, the main light the one sitting atop his desk - but right now, the room had a slightly uncomfortable darkness about it. The shadows almost seemed to draw around him where he sat, clinging to the black of his jacket and the soft darkness of his hair.

When he heard her voice, he stopped writing with a small flourish, looking over his shoulder first. His glasses slid down on his nose just a bit from the movement, rather swift for him - and surprise made him blink a couple of times, as if verifying what he was seeing.

"...Kagumi....?"

Pulling himself up and tucking his fountain pen into his front pocket, Mikami allowed himself to shoot her a warm smile. Something about it wasn't quite the same as it once was, though...something about him was a little more intense. One hand darted up to push his glasses up, obscuring his eyes a bit more. If Kagumi was paying a lot of attention, she might catch a very strange glint in the brown depths...but it may well be a trick of the dim light.

"It's been a while."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

For her to be in this sudden darkness he was in was eerie, she could feel other things around, it was as if the darkness watched them both, and protected Mikami from harm. She sighed, that could be trouble for her, it felt more like a bad omen. She froze watching the phenomenon of him writing in this kind of dark, a secluded dark that she had fallen prey to once in her life, and she never thought it would happen again.

The swift movement surprised her, she could never remember him move with that kind of ease, did his shoulder heal up that quickly? She expected at the very least for those joints to be sore. But the surprised blinking made her feel a bit more confident.

Kagumi?

It slipped his lips so easily, but she slowly nodded, her fingernails digging into her palms. She matched his warm smile, "yeah it's me." She felt his smile though, a bit more errie than it had used to be, a bit more sinister. His brown eyes glinted and cold flew down her spine, his eyes hid something since she had left. She gave a half smile.

"It has Teru Mikami, it truly has," she put her hands to her sides, " so...how have things been since I was gone? I've changed a bit," she looked to him, "have you?"

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

Oh, he could see she'd changed - she looked different than the last time he had seen her. Stronger...more put together.

Kagumi had known him better than most...had seen sides of him that no one else got to see. For that reason, she would see that there was a change in him now - some sort of eerie confidence. As he stood in front of the light, the effect was less like a halo of light around his silhouette...more like an addition to the ominous red glow that shone in from the window. It lit his face in strange ways, casting bloody hues through his raven hair.

"I can see you've changed - you look more beautiful than ever." Her comment struck him as a bit strange...a bit suspicious. Still, he shook it off for now, his smile only dialing back to his customary twitch at the corners of his mouth.

"If I have changed, it's been for the better...God has been kind to me lately." A note of pride. He had indeed been even more verbal about Kira than before - on television, even, discussing him as fervently as ever.

But then a question rose to his eyes first, then his lips.

"...What brings you here? I was just finishing up for the night."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Though her strength had been regained, she could feel some of her childhood self coming back, buckling under his. But she was more experienced, so nothing in her pose changed except for the firmness of her voice.

She knew Mikami when she saw him, and the errie bloody glow he was getting from the light and beautiful sunset was making him more...devious. It happened to people involved in this stupid case. She bit her lip, sometimes she wished it had never happened at all. Then everyone would be alive, everything would be right again.

His comment made her flush a deep red. Beautiful? She had braces and glasses, she looked like a nerd. Everything was less than perfect, so now she couldn't really believe that, but her flush showed she accepted it anyway, "thanks..." she murmured, "you are looking much handsomer since the last time we met." Maybe the comment would make her feel better, but she forced the flush from her flustered face. Her amber eyes glittering in the light.

She cracked a half smile complimenting his god, but it made her feel worse, she looked from in his eyes to his feet, which were shrouded in darkness, anything but looking at him, anything but that.

Her heart jumped at his question, it had to come sooner or later, so she guessed she had to let it out all at once. " It's my friends Mello and Matt, the two men who...you know..." everyone had heard about the Takada kidnapping. "The two that died," she decided to get to the point.

"It's about God."

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

The little compliment felt...strange, somehow. A bit awkward. Mikami was happy to see his young friend - the young woman who had grown to feel like a little sister to him; still, something had changed. The way she was addressing him now felt...uncomfortable, somehow. Strained.

Then she mentioned the two men who had died during the Takada incident, and her eyes left his. They had been friends of hers? A little bit of sympathy crept into his face, but not much - he believed that if God had judged them, it was for a reason.

When she mentioned God, however, something in him swelled with pride - and a strange excitement sprung up in him. When he spoke, his tone was happy - strangely so. It seemed out of place in this dark room...out of place coming from this dark man.

"God...Kagumi, God finally chose me!" Mikami was still so proud of this fact...so happy to finally be seen as faithful; he wanted to share it with his friend, his confidant. With a few quick movements, he had turned his back on her, moving to open his briefcase. "There's something I want to show you...something I know I can trust you with."

The red light that flooded the room seemed to be even more ominous as he dug through his things...and stood up again a moment later, clutching to his chest a black notebook with white lettering on the front in some strange language.

"...God...sent me this. I want to show it to you...because I know he would like you."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

When she used to be around him, she could feel their minds meld, their thinking at the same level, their care for one another unconditional. But now that her feelings had changed with the deaths of her friends, she couldn't bear to look at him. She had moved away from his page and as guilty as it made her, had no intention of going back.

He seemed unforgiving, unsympathetic when she explained they were her friends, and it was his logical reasoning he deserved it. That was something she disagreed with, and she could feel herself get worse. The minute he uttered the word 'god' there was no turning back now.

He was more excited than her, more willing to mention it. He was beaming with pride. He talked more about trust, and began didding through his bag. She was putting the pieces together, and remembering Mello, she felt she knew what was coming next.

He held the notebook protectively to his chest, and the girl recognised it immediately, this time though, it was in a different language, but even in a different language she knew what those words were.

Deathnote...

The color drained from her face as she looked at it. There was more than one, that was a problem. "...God...sent me this. I want to show it to you...because I know he would like you." These words only made the pain worse as she tried to find the words for this, but all that came out was an astonished, "Mikami..."

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

When Mikami's eyes - full of a strange joy - fell on Kagumi's paling face, his expression darkened a bit. His hands tightened around the book, his oh-so-faint smile starting to fade. She didn't look happy for him...and the way that she said his name sounded...almost like an accusation.

With a couple of steps, he moved closer, his voice coaxing. "...Kagumi, it's all right...God finally recognized me as one of the righteous. You see? He entrusted me with this...this is my holy weapon. To help him fight against the evil in our society. To help him delete them!"

Carefully, he opened the book up, holding it up so that she could see the names on the page...his writing just as neat and mechanical as it had always been, the black ink of his fountain pen dark and incriminating against the white pages.

"He CHOSE me, Kagumi...like I always dreamed." A moment of hesitation...his lips twitched again, his tiny smile struggling to stay on his face.

She looks...frightened.

The blood red sunset cast its light across him and across the pages, adding to the sense of strangeness that had set into Mikami...the sense of wrong. He looked so much less like the guardian angel he once had...and so much more like some sort of demon.

Mikami twitched for just a moment, turning his wrist over and looking at his watch...old habit, something familiar. All at once, he was done with it, and looking down at Kagumi over his glasses...a strange sort of will in his eyes. Desperation.

He wanted his young confidant to understand.

"...Please, Kagumi...say something. Don't...don't look at me like that...."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

There wouldn't be any attempt at a smile coming from her, not with the book in her prescence.

She confirmed it, it was that book. That was the book that was breaking up so many families and ruining so many lives. Especially those who wielded it. She had seen what happened, heard everything, and now only to see the notebook in the hands of the person she trusted the most was making her feel worse. It was like the minute it reached his hands he was now marked for death. True to the word of the book.

As he stepped closer to her, he tried to coax her, make her feel like this was all okay, but to her it wasn't, not knowing that if he continued to be manipulated by the arrogant bastard known as Kira it would surely mean the death of the person that meant the most to her.

He coaxed her again, but her frightened gaze remained unchanged, now a bit contemplative. She wanted her guardian angel back, not this evil demon Kira replaced him with.

To see the desperation in his eyes made her amber eyes mist with tears. She knew all he wanted was understanding, and now that she saw the full abilities of Kira, down to how far he will go, she couldn't let it happen.

Her confident voice was shaky now, tears on her face, "I understand Mikami....you must be, overjoyed," now her weakening eyes met his, " but, I don't think you understand, he has you now," a tear escaped, slipping down her cheek, "I've seen what he has done to the righteous, the real righteous. Like what you used to be," she took a shaky inhale, "he will do whatever it takes to cover himself, when you meet him eye to eye he probably won't even look at you or care," her lip quivered, "he might even kill you Mikami!" her hands flinched, she was considering reaching out for a hug but thought against it, "no mistake, that notebook has you marked for death without putting your name in it." She looked at him pleadingly, her voice showing more signs of sorrow and true worry "I can't lose you Mikami, don't you understand?! I just," she sniffled a bit, doing everything in her power to not break down into hysterical sobs "I just can't, Not my angel, not you. " Now that it was out, the tears began to stream down her face, and the fact she had let it out was now making herself go into light sobbing

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

Kagumi's words swept across the room, slowly eroding the smile from his lips completely. Mikami looked like he had just been struck - like he had been punched in the stomach. There he stood, in his hands everything he ever wanted...listening to his confidant as she told him it would bring him no good.

She doesn't understand....

His chest heaved in a couple of hurried breaths, his face tilting downward and sliding down his glasses. Dark brown eyes darted around for a moment before settling back on the sobbing Kagumi, pupils drawn in. Agitated.

"...Kagumi...." His voice shook. Mikami couldn't have expected this...he couldn't have expected this from her. Not his friend...not Kagumi. He staggered back a couple of steps, eyes wide, until his back met the desk and he stumbled. The lamp wobbled on its stand, the only source of clean light shooting awkward, staggered beams about behind him.

"...Kagumi...but...why...?" One hand fell to ball up at his side, fingernails digging into his palm, knuckles white. He felt himself reeling, a knot forming in his throat as he struggled to get his bearings. His eyes shot around the room again - it was still his office, but he could see pads on the walls...he could feel someone just behind him, ready to pull on the restraints and tell him he wasn't making any sense. His brought a hand to his head, running fingers through his hair and knocking his glasses askew. When he spoke again, it was nothing less than a roar.

"NO!"

Mikami didn't straighten his glasses as he looked back at Kagumi, that strange glint from before deep in his brown eyes. It was almost a glow...a strange fire from within as his gaze slid just above her head. As he turned his gaze back to her face, his free hand moved behind him to turn on his music player and turn up the volume. Loud, foreboding swells of classical music swept the room, seeming to back him up.

Mikami never put his music on this loudly.

"They've - they've corrupted you! Kagumi, listen to yourself! Listen to what they've turned you into!" He moved forward again, his glasses still crooked and barely hanging on his face. "God would never kill me...he chose me! He chose me, like we always talked about...I'm one of his ANGELS, Kagumi! With this book, I can DELETE the wicked for him! He sent this to me because he thought I was RIGHTEOUS! He saw my faith...why can't you see it anymore? What have they DONE to you? Don't you understand? With this, I'm MORE of a guardian angel than I have ever been!"

He stopped a couple steps away from her, his voice lowering again. Tears pricked his dark lashes, and soon enough, they tumbled down his cheeks.

"...God would never do those things to me...."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

He felt the bearing of her words more than she did, her vision was now cloudy with salty tears of a mixture of fear, anger, sorrow, and concern. It was her Mikami, her beloved angel, her brother, why wouldn't he listen to her. He was a very smart man with better intentions than anyone, but suddenly he just didn't understand what was really going on, Kira had clouded his vision, and he couldn't see that the perfect thing they had created was all a vain lie by some kid with twisted morals. He was smart enough to know that they were nothing but pawns, so why couldn't he see it like she could?

When he spoke again, with the kind of force she hadnt heard in years, the tearful young woman jumped, a squeak through her sobs. She saw him get closer, and she was getting so weak in the knees she leaned on the wall, her hands at her face to wipe off her tears. The music, something she admired as a child, was growing louder, to where it rang in her ears. She could feel everything start to move slowly now, and the air became thicker with the fear and confusion, making his appearence, everything down to his once loving gaze, more frightening.

Everything had to be explained to her, she couldnt listen to this, but she did, shaking her head in horror. This couldn't be happening, not to them, they were supposed to be there for each other, there to always understand. She was now almost shrinking away by the force of his words, her knees together, her feet apart, her long black hair like a protective veil around her head as she gazed at him through her glasses, her cheeks still being stained with tears.

"THEY?" She looked up at him, her bright amber eyes giving a flash, " they opened my eyes Mikami, for the first time things are making more sense, I watched him change everything, manipulate me and my friends. Now everyone around me is dying and IT'S HIS FAULT!" Her words now were forced through sobs, "I have seen it Mikami, how far he will go, he killed his own, he will kill you too," her eyes flooded with tears again, "you are like a brother Mikami, and in a matter of months everyone around me has died," she walked a bit closer, she stood about a foot away from him now, confidence regained a bt more, "you are all I have left, and I can't lose you, not for this." Her hands twitched again to hug him, but she feared his reaction. Now that they were on opposing views, Kagumi could feel the pain again, she could feel the emptiness she had before she met him, and to not be able to reach out and just embrace even for a split moment certainly made her feel so empty.

[Prosecutor Mikami Teru]

Before Mikami had met Kagumi, he could never have imagined anyone could make him hurt this much in this position. He had always been such a solitary man...he had always had little besides his unwavering, overpowering faith in his God.

As such, he could never have foreseen this pain - the wrenching sensation that closed around his heart and his head like a white-hot vice. The confusion etched itself across his face, widening his eyes and bleaching his flesh until he was as stark-black-and-white as the ink within the pages of the Death Note itself.

Kagumi was walking towards him now, her tone accusing, her words condemning everything Mikami believed in. He stood there, his free hand twitching as he listened to her words...his glasses still dangling off his face at a crazy angle. While he listened, he didn't fully understand what she was saying to him...how she could be condemning God as a mere murderer.

...They opened my eyes, she says.... A twitch wracked his lips and eyes - one that Kagumi hadn't seen in years, from a time in his life that Mikami would rather have forgotten. Dark eyes darted to and fro wildly as he struggled to think things through.

What have they done to her? How could she be thinking this way - how could she have turned her back on everything God stands for? Kagumi...how can you do this to him? How can you do this to ME?

When Mikami spoke again, he seemed to slouch a bit, the Death Note dangling in his right hand. Overall, he looked...deflated, somehow. Damaged. Dishevelled. He couldn't see it himself, but the Death Note had changed him...and the thoughts that ran through him sounded much more like a demon than a guardian angel.

"...You won't...lose me...." Desperately, he was trying to gain his ground again...try to gain the power in his tone. He looked so...lost, tears dribbling off his face and to the ground. "I don't want to hurt you, Kagumi...."

...If you can't stand behind God...behind me...then...I...but I can't let you keep hurting...I have to protect you from the pain. But if they've corrupted you, then...the only way I can stop your pain....

Dark eyes searched out amber ones...seeking out acceptance.

He looked pathetic.

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Kagumi's powerful demeanor was broken watching her friend confused and hurt like this, and it hurt the girl even more to know that this was her doing; everything down to the tears he shed were all her fault and it wracked her with guilt. The last time she had felt this way, he had a knife sticking out of his shoulder and she was holding him, trying to make him survive, trying not to lose the only friend she had in a long time. Just like this moment, every emotion was running through her like a river, her tears unfaltering.

But despite these fears, Kagumi braced to stand her guard for him, all for Mikami her one and only friend. She remembered sitting in the board room on the long table, watching every single monitor, then listening to Mikami speak on Kira's Kingdom, and things pieced together for her instantly. She told no one about these theories, mainly because she herself didnt want to accept them as the truth. But seeing that Death Note in the hands of Mikami proved every single theory right, probably if she dug deeper, she was right down to the last detail.

It was moments like this where she hated being right...

At the sudden twich, Kagumi cringed, her nails digging into her palms and the flashes of the serial rapist now fresh in her mind. Trying to block it out, she whimpered again. now looking away from him. She could not bear to look at him, not this way. At the same time, she could not help but wonder what was going through his mind as his eyes scanned her. Most likely betrayal, pain, confusion, but like she said before, she had changed since the last time they met.

I don't want to hurt you Kagumi...

Looking down at his feet originally, her eyes suddenly slid up to meet his gaze with those words. He meant every single thing he said, but now she was defenseless, she did not know what to do anymore except hope that he would understand. Everyone that was claimed to have the notebook was either dead or confused, and with Kagumi's bad luck, Mikami would probably die. She thought if she convinced him before they noticed, maybe she had a chance to redeem him, or else it was SHE that had to stand there while he got arrested, SHE to watch him get death...

Her gut wrenched silently as she let out an exhale...

Before she could stop herself, she had flung her arms around his neck, her disappearing into the mass of hair as she cried into his shirt, "Mi...ka...mi please...don't leave me alone!" she looked up at him, "you are my only friend, please don't leave me alone for this!" Now even she knew nothing of what she was begging for and her sobs were muffled into his shirt.