A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 34

Misa kneeled in a dark and remote corner of a forest, alone. Throwing aside the small shovel she had been using, she dug her hands into the dirt at the foot of a tall beech tree, retrieving a medium, flat box. Lifting its lid, she found a black notebook with two words etched on its cover in white.

Death Note.

Curiously, she picked up the book. Then she gasped and gave a little yelp, as a surge of forgotten memories suddenly awakened in her...of a purple-haired demon following her around like a puppy and constant companion...of hours were spent writing names into the notebook that the demon, Rem, had given her...of days dreaming of and looking for Kira, her savior...

She remembered laying eyes on Light for the first time from afar, in Aoyama. She remembered seeing him through the haze of red that were her shinigami eyes—seeing that he was the only one among hundreds of people who had no lifespan floating under his name...a name that was the name of her hero, the object of her worship, and the man she had been searching for: Light Yagami.

She remembered following him to his house, thanking him for avenging her parents' murders, and confessing her love. She remembered his lips on hers.

And she remembered the plan.

"I remember...everything," she whispered aloud. Then she squealed with delight, flipping through the familiar notebook. "I remember everything from when this notebook was mine!"

Light had buried it here for her to regain her memories later. She sighed happily at the thought of him. Light. He was so smart, and so wonderful. Her savior.

A slip of folded paper fell out of the notebook, catching her eye. She bent to pick it up. Inscribed on the outside were the words: For Misa. Light Yagami.

"A letter from Light!" she exclaimed happily, then opened it to read.

Dear Misa, it said. By the time you read this letter, you should have remembered everything. Do you remember my friend at To-oh University who went by the name Hideki Ryuga? I want you to write his name in the notebook and kill him. Also, burn this letter, hide a few pages of the notebook with you, and bury the notebook. When you meet me again, casually touch me with a piece of the notebook. If you do this, Misa Amane, I will love you for the rest of my life.
The final sentence seared through Misa's consciousness like a flaming torch. Love you for the rest of my life—Rest of my life—Rest of my life...

Misa squealed like a happy child. "Yes! Yes, I'll do it!"

With ecstatic fervor she grabbed a pen from out of her purse, flipped to a blank page in the notebook, and bent over to write. Now she could finally be useful to Light. Now she could show him that she was a woman worthy to be by his side for their rest of their lives. Now she could finally help him remove his greatest obstacle—Hideki Ryuga, who was Ryuzaki, who was L.

With glee she brought the pen to the page, and then stopped as her mind drew a sudden blank. She stayed kneeled like that for a moment, fist clenched around her writing utensil and teeth gritted. Then she threw the pen to the ground and wailed.

"I can't remember his name!" she moaned to the silent trees. Desperate, she thumped her fists at her temples, but it was no good. She had seen hundreds of names and lifespans every single day while she had the shinigami eyes. She couldn't possibly remember one out of the million...and how could she have known, back then, that that weirdo she had seen Light standing next to outside of his school was none other than his nemesis, L? She hadn't paid enough attention at the time to the name over his head to remember it.

"Argh," she growled, then picked up the pen again. Well, at least there was something she could do for now. Julie's name she knew, and Light had wanted her to write it down too.