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Light would normally call Tuesday a Monday's Monday. This Tuesday, however, would be an exception to that rule. Instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to quickly shove down breakfast and get dressed for school, the cheetah trudged down the stairs slowly to the kitchen at 8:30. Jessie-Belle was in the kitchen making today's breakfast; bacon, scrambled eggs, and potatoes (Natalie's favorite combination; Light didn't judge).

"Mornin' sunshine," Jessie said when she saw him. It came out as Maw-nin'. Light was still having trouble adjusting to that accent of hers.

Light took a seat at the kitchen table, tail curled around the leg of his chair. "Is Natalie up yet?" he asked.

'Yes. She's just taking her medicine for the day." The three of them eventually sat around the table eating breakfast together. For the first time in a long time, Light felt like he was part of an actual family; doing things that real families did. Sure, they were both adult women, but who cared? Light loved them both.

Speaking of things he loved, the Note nudged at the back of his mind. It was sitting upstairs between his mattress and box spring, where he knew no one would find it. But Light felt the book calling out to him, telling him that there are always more names to write down. Then he thought about Nadine. She would be wondering where he was all day. Would she think he bailed on her?

"I've got to make a quick call," Light said, getting up from his seat. Neither Natalie or Jessie interfered as he raced up the steps, whipped out his phone and dialed Nadine's number. It rang for a few second before he heard the click. "Hey, listen, I'm not going to be there at school today."

Nadine scoffed. "Figures. We get a good deal going and you have the nerve to go and bail on me."

"Excuse me?"

"Relax, Light, I'm joking. Sheesh. You need to get a sense of humor. I understand, go and take the day off. But you remember the deal. We look for L's real identity, you put names down that we want. I'll give you a list of them later today. Chao." She hung up. Light looked at his phone, confused for a second. Not that he didn't mind sharing his power with his followers, but a part of him wondered who else would Nadine want dead. She already killed off one of the women who terrorized her uncle.

Light went downstairs to finish breakfast with his aunts. Natalie shared with him her plans for the day. "I figured we could finish wardrobe shopping for you then maybe some decorations for your room. After that, I want to take you to get your fur groomed."

"Sounds good to me," Light said. As he rinsed his plate off, he wondered if this whole day was a way for Natalie to escape from the harsh truth that her brother was a child abuser. Come on, Light, let her have this at least. You just ruined her image of her brother that she's known for forty plus years. The least you can do is let her do what she wishes with you.

The cheetah headed back up to his room to throw on some decent clothes; a red t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a jean vest. Light looked over at his bed, at the small lump between the sheets that sits the Death Note. He wondered for a second whether or not he should bring it with him; just in case Natalie or Jessie-Belle wanted to look for themselves. It never hurt to put down a few names that were in the news. But then Light thought better of it. L already knew that Kira lived in this town, no need to give a further impression of that. The Note would stay here at home.

Light joined his aunts in their silver van. For this trip, they travelled outside of the city in favor of the town one mile over. This town was a little smaller save for the big strip mall on the south edge of the border.

Jessie parked outside of a large store with a giant red logo. Because it was a Tuesday, there was only another handful of people there; but Light assumed that business would pick up after noon. Natalie handed Light some cash. "We'll let you pick out your own clothes, okay?"

"Fine." Light pocketed the money and headed off to the men's clothes area. Immediately, Light ticked off some of his favorite colors to wear. Black. Red. Blue. Grey? Maybe. Only certain shades of grey looked good with Light's dark colored spots. One large rack near the changing rooms held several black shirts with long sleeves and bright symbols on the chest. He took two shirts off, reconsidered one of them, then kept it anyways because he figured, Why not?

While skimming around for jeans and sweatshirt, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A large mirror hanging off wall, reflecting nearly all of the clothes section. Obviously it was a security camera, Light was no fool. But what he saw was a bit odd. A white fox standing a decent pace away. He had on dark sunglasses and a black leather coat, matching well with his snowy white fur. At first, Light thought nothing of it, but just in case, the cheetah moved around the rack he was standing in front of and moved towards the changing rooms. Sure enough, the fox slowly inched his way towards him, keeping his head down as if he was looking around the shop.

Light knew better.

The cheetah blindly hung the shirts back up then crouched down low. He damned himself for being tall. Quickly, he maneuvered around the clothes into the open walkway. He darted into the computer section, which was blocked off from the shoes. When he saw nobody around, Light ran for it. Around the corner towards the back. An employee tried to shout for him to stop, but he couldn't. Someone is following me. When he thought he was in the clear, right by the outdoor decor section, he whipped out his phone and called Nadine again.

"Look who came crawling back to me," she said when she answered. Light could see the smug look on her face on the other end.

"Someone's following me," he said.

He heard a creak. Nadine must have sat up in her seat. "What's the matter? Can you describe him for me?" Light did the best he could, exaggerating a little about the black clothing. "Sounds like an FBI agent undercover. I would know, I've seen a few of them myself after my tail."

"The FBI?" Light asked. "What the hell would they want with me?" Of course, though, he knew the answer. L. He obviously suspected Light's identity as Kira. "When I get my paws on that fox, I swear I'm gonna-"

"Relax, Light," Nadine said. "Your aunt is working with L, right? All you have to do is tell her what's going on and ask for the reason why you're being followed. No need to blow this out of proportion."

"Okay."

"Oh and while I've got you on the phone, you should be expecting something in the mail today from yours truly."

Light thought he smelled that fox come around the corner, so he briskly moved to the food aisles. "What on earth would you send to my house?" he asked. He was about to ask how she got his address, but she was a hacktivist; school records, easy.

"A list of names that I want to see written down tonight. It'll be hidden within the pages of a book. If asked, tell your aunts that it was a missing book you needed for English. Until then, see you later... Kira." Dial tone. From the way she spat out the name, Light would've said that Nadine was trying to blackmail him.

Didn't matter right now; he needed to find Natalie.

He kept his eyes to the ground as he walked as fast he could around the store. He eventually found his aunts near the cleaning supplies. The smell of detergent and liquid soap was very overwhelming, almost making him sneeze. He jogged up to them, unsure of how to explain the situation.

Natalie set down a bottle of mopping solution and gave him a curious look. "Light? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I don't know how much time I have, but I need to tell you something; I'm being followed," Light rushed out without thinking.

"By who?" Natalie asked. She didn't look at him like he was crazy, which Light took as a good sign. He spent a quick minute telling her what he saw; the fox, the black clothing, the FBI. "You think L put someone on you?"

"Yes! I'm telling you, that fox is untrustworthy. He doesn't even believe that I'm not Kira." It felt odd saying that name out in public. Like it was the forbidden fruit tasted before his lips. Natalie looked to Jessie, who shrugged and went back to look for soap.

"I seriously doubt that L would do something like that."

***

"What do you mean you did something like that?"

Natalie did not look pleased at all to L. When she came to visit him in his motel room, L was thrilled at the thought of pursuing more work time with her. Instead, he opened the door to her asking questions about Agent Jackson, whom he remembered based on her description of him. When he told her the truth, she looked a little appalled at him.

L stood up from his seat, looking straight at her in the eye. "I only did it for two reasons, Mrs. McAlister. One, I do believe your nephew is a suspect of being Kira only from the fact that he is a very intelligent person, who can think very fast on their feet, even for a cheetah. Plus, your nephew has the fasted legible penmanship on this side of the planet, and Kira can kill up to 2500 people in an eight hour period. The fact that Kira is from the same town which holds a young man with such a skill may not be such a coincidence.

"But, there is also a chance he may not be Kira. If that were the case, then the agent's purpose would be for protection. Ever since we started this partnership, Kira has killed more people every day, and since your name is on the internet, then I'm worried Kira might target you. And if you're easy prey, then your immediate family would be considered easy prey too. That includes your wife and your nephew."

Natalie's ears pinned back. She looked flushed. "Oh. Still, I wish you would've talked to me about this first. Light freaked out when he saw one of your men following him at the store today."

"I see." L nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry for any trouble. I can assure you that surprises like this will not happen again."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

She looked down at the ground. "Thank you. I guess that's all I wanted to hear." The two embraced quickly before she headed back out. L grabbed onto that feeling of her in his arms for a second before focusing back on the investigation.

He sat down at his desk, grabbing his half empty bag of skittles. Above his desk was a large board, with a red headline. Who is Kira? All over it are pictures of various residents of the town that L mostly suspects. From Light's advice, L looked into the police files. There were only a few foxes in blue around here, and only a couple more that have an I.Q. over 150. That narrowed things down to a select seven people. To capture Kira, L needed to think like Kira. Light's way of thinking was very clever to assume, but it also could have been a deception, a scapegoat to ease the target off of his back.

So for now, Light's picture remained in the center under the big text: "Main Suspect".