A/N: Okay, after a couple of personal issues, I am able to write something again. This story is written for a Matsuda facebook fanpage contest. I am happy that I was able to finish this earlier than I thought, especially on my birthday, yeah today is my birthday. Okay, you're probably getting kinda sick of me now, sorry. Enjoy the story, I'd appreciate a review, I probably hadn't looked through this right.
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note.
Matsuda was walking down the sidewalk, he looked down to his knees. The city has been quiet over the years, at least to him it was. Everything was okay for a while but it just had gone depressing. He grew glum as the days passed, as he sees new things, everything that passes. The once young man is growing older.
He walked by a coffee shop, but it wasn't an ordinary one. It was where he first talked to a person who was once like a stranger. But that person wasn't a stranger anymore but someone he once knew. Matsuda remembered when he had first met this person.
Person named as Light Yagami. Their first conversation at the coffee shop, it was a fair day, in spring. He always would have terrible allergies in spring. It was quite embarrassing to interrupt the young man that was talking him with his constant sneezing. But Light would just smile softly, let it go, then continue.
Stopping his thoughts, he decided to walk into the shop, just to take a trip to memory lane, a peaceful one hopefully. He gave a weak smile, things haven't really changed during the years. How long has it been here exactly? Coincidently, he was standing the same spot he was on the first visit. He remembered the green tile with the small crack on it.
The cashier was also that same one he first saw. She was once a teenager, now a young woman, the cashier has worked here quite a while. This situation has been going all déjà vu to him so far.
"Coffee, miss. With cream, please?" Matsuda spoke.
"Yes, sir." She smiled brightly and told him the price as she walked to get his order ready.
After getting his coffee, Matsuda went to take a seat. It was the same one he always sat on, this time, he's alone. It's been a couple years since he's been here, but this place had always made him feel a little better.
He remembered a couple details of some visits. Maybe only four or five, he wasn't really sure. But he had treasured the visits, of course, as you grow old, things fly away. The memories may not had been gone but he kept them. The man thought about his first visit to the coffee shop.
Matsuda sat with the younger Light at the table. He had ordered creamed coffee, he always had a hard time drinking it without the cream. The man hated bitter flavor, it made wince thinking about how it feels in his mouth.
"Matsuda-san, you're new to the job, correct?" Light started the conversation in a polite tone. On his first visit, he had only been a rookie. It was actually a couple months since he started his job at the time.
"Correct, Yagami-kun! I hope I'll begin to do better soon! I really want to do my best!" He shouted enthusiastically. He used to be happy and cheerful, where had that went?
"That's pretty cool, Matsuda-san. I do say, it will take hard work and be a long way to get there. My dad went through this sort of thing according to my mom and personal observation." The young man spoke and added a smile. A long way to what he had wanted was correct, but is it what he wanted now?
"Ah! I see! Your dad does a very good job! I really have respect for him!" Matsuda stood up and said with spark lighting up in his eyes.
"Yes, that's understandable." Light smiled and gave a small chuckle. "I could tell you som-"
"Achoo!" Matsuda sneezed interrupting the boy. "S-sorry Yagami-kun! I just get allergies in the spring, I'm v-very sorry!" He stuttered and wiped his nose with a napkin.
"Oh, it's fine. Should I continue?" The young man asked.
"Y-yes! Yes! I'm very sorry!" Matsuda said as he held the napkin to his nose.
"Okay, anyway, I was asking if you would like to hear some stories. Maybe it would help?"
"Perhaps it would, Yagami-kun!" Matsuda said with a smile.
The young man shared his stories, they were quite nice to hear for Matsuda. He nodded politely after each one, he also had sneezed in between some parts. He turned red as a tomato each time he had, he didn't want to anger the young man.
Light had shared one about this one murder case that had really gotten him hooked. After telling a series of stories to kill the time, Matsuda was wondering what to talk about. He hadn't want Light to keep thinking of things to share, it probably would a burden.
"Yagami-kun, does anything take effect on you or the rest of your family?" He asked.
"What takes effect?" The young man said in a confused tone.
"Your father's job, I mean, he must be really busy." Matsuda said looking shyly.
"Oh. What effect has it made…" Light began to think and frown slightly.
"I-I'm sorry, did I do anything wrong?" Matsuda asked.
"No, sorry if it seems I'm upset. Heh..." The young man tried to keep his happy posture. "My dad, he doesn't have much time for us anymore, but that's okay."
"Okay?" The older man looked in question.
Light pushed his auburn hair from his face. His dark brown eyes looked up at the older man and gave a faint smile and nodded. Matsuda raised a brow.
"Yeah, sorry if that didn't sound as it was intended to." The brunette looked up a bit.
"Achoo!" Matsuda sneezed loudly again.
"Bless you." Light said.
"S-sorry, Yagami-kun. The sneezing has been getting a hold of me." Matsuda took a napkin onto his nose again.
"The situation is okay, because I know my dad has been working hard. He sacrifices a lot of things to keep us happy." The younger man said softly.
"Happy..? But you look a little upset." Matsuda said. Of course, it's normal for people Light's age at the time to be quite angsty, especially when they have trouble on their mind.
"Don't worry about it, Matsuda-san. Everything would get better." Light tried to fix the happy mood. They never had gotten better...
"Yes, hopefully they would…" Matsuda replied.
"Maybe one day, there won't be so much bad things going on in the world. Then maybe my dad could spend time with us more and we could all be a family." Light smiled lightly again, but it just never happened…
After a couple more minutes passed and the two decided to pick up and leave. They nodded and both gave goodbyes. Matsuda waved at the younger man as he began heading home. He was so happy and everything that time, he always hoped for the best.
The conversation as he remembered was interesting. Light apparently had a little innocence in him and knew his manners. Matsuda felt a tingle in his nose and sneezed again, he sighed and wiped his nose with some napkins he had taken with him.
Matsuda sighed, he remembered that day, he hadn't mean to upset the younger man and make him let all that out. But it was nice that he was able to help the youth express his feelings. It always had helped him when he did.
But why won't he do that anymore? The black-haired man took in a sigh again. Why was doing the things he used to do so hard now? It just doesn't seem right, looking back, he changed a lot. He brushed back his black hair with his hands then took a sip out of his coffee.
The black-haired man placed his hands over his eyes feeling the dark circles of his stress and lack of sleep. This made him remember a certain person. The once world famous detective, L, who he also referred to as Ryuzaki.
Ryuzaki always seemed like he wanted peace in his life, much like Light had did. There was always pressure in his eyes at one point, even though he managed to keep a blank look. He remembered when he saw Ryuzaki sleep.
The detective was sitting in his usual position on the chair leaning over. He had a tired look on his face, which was pretty rare. But when Matsuda walked by him again, he was already asleep. Ryuzaki had looked quite peaceful and happy asleep, he looked as if he felt safe.
Matsuda remembered how his dreams were sometimes the best places to stay at. But now, they often turn into nightmares. Ryuzaki was probably happy that his sleep turned out to be peaceful that time, through his experiences, he probably had seen things that trouble him and make him not care about things anymore. Much like what has happened to Matsuda now…
He remembered how Ryuzaki loved sugar also and his features. The scruffy black hair and the hallow black eyes. The detective would sometimes give a rare sly smile, this smile would always direct at Light most of the time. Especially when the two began to fight.
Speaking of Ryuzaki, the detective was with him the second visit, of course, Light was there too. The two were attached to each other during the time. Their visit during that time was quite fair, they had snacks and discussed over things that weren't as much about the case. That was because the details of the case had to be hidden.
"R-Ryuzaki! I've got the papers you've asked for done, should I give it to you once we get back?" Matsuda asked with a smile.
"Yes, thank you Matsu-san." L placed a thumb to his lip as he replied and looked down at his coffee. "You, know, having coffee here doesn't mean you're not going to get my coffee for me anymore."
"Yeah... I know…" Matsuda gave a nervous and a bit disappointed look from lack of appreciation.
Light took a sip form his cup and sighed. The brunette had a bored tone on his face as he looked out the window seeing people walk by. Ryuzaki would often try to make Light less lonely during this time for some reason. He had never did it the first few times of getting to know the young man.
However, the detective's effort wasn't enough, nor was the adoration of a certain girl was helping him. Misa Amane, as Matsuda remembers now. Matsuda used to refer his as Misa Misa during the times of the case, he never saw her again after Light went down with the ship. But he remembered that she hadn't survived the events.
The blonde woman never really appreciated his cheering or anything as much. You could say that she was ungrateful, but after all, she had eyes for another. But Matsuda would rather not get into what they did. During those times, he sometimes had wished he would find a woman who would love him. He never thought it would really happen due to many rejections.
Light at the time was often confused. He always wanted to know something he didn't, he always claimed something felt familiar. But what had felt familiar exactly? The young man would often sigh in frustration when no one would understand him. He especially would be pissed off when accused of being Kira at the time, mostly with L, he was always blaming his current misery on the detective.
But after all, who wouldn't be miserable with everything being put up on him? After they had caught Higuchi, the confused young man turned into a more cautious type of person. He was also a little more aggressive. There probably was some sort of catch to what the notebook does. But it doesn't matter now, hardly anyone talked about the Kira events. It was a taboo sort of thing now.
"Ryuzaki, please stop putting so much sugar, the table is running out of sugar packets and you're going to fill the whole cup with sugar, which would be disgusting!" Light complained to the detective.
"Don't strain so much, Light-kun. I know what I'm doing, seven packets of sugar isn't enough, you know?" L replied as he opened another packet.
"Gimme that!" Light snatched the packet out of L's hand. "I told you to stop putting so much sugar in!"
"Hey guys! Stop fighting, you two wouldn't want to do anything rash, right?" Matsuda tried to stop the two.
"Shut up, Matsu!" The fighting pair shouted at the man.
"Eep." Matsuda let out as he turned bright red, this was going to be a long day, and a long day that was. He let out a sigh as the two kept fighting.
Matsuda took a sip out of his coffee and smiled about the memory. It would be considered a little light-hearted now. The black haired man felt a little vibration on the side of his pants. He was receiving a call. He decided to pick it up later, he wanted time to relax.
Looking out the window, he saw a familiar figure. The family figure just waved at him and started walking away. Matsuda raised a hand giving a signal that he waved back. The black haired man also gave the figure a smile.
He began recounting events before the conclusion to the Kira case. Everyone began suspecting Light. They began trying to find evidence but Light was able to backfire everything back. The young man began making up many plans on how to get himself out of the mess. But never had it did all along.
But they had one last visit to this shop. That day, it was only they went after it rained so the air was a little humid and the clouds were still dark. The two decided to have a small conversation together. Light looked very exhausted that time.
"Yagami-kun, are you feeling well today?" Matsuda questioned the younger man.
"Very well, just a little sleepy, the case has been a bit rough." The brunette replied.
"You know, everyone really thinks you're Kira, right?" The black haired man said.
"I know." Light mumbled slightly, he has been becoming less like himself.
"Are you okay, Yagami-kun?" Matsuda asked the young man.
"Yeah, sorry." Light took a small sip out of his black coffee. "Matsuda… you don't believe I'm Kira, right?"
"Yes! Of course! Why would you be!?" Matsuda tried to cheer the younger man up.
"Heh, good reason, Matsuda. Listen… if anything ever happens, would you save me? Would you remember me, if you can't..?" Light said. He was never 'saved'. But he was remembered though.
"Yagami-kun..? As if something would happen. It'll be over before you know it." Matsuda tried to cheer the mood up. But something did happen.
Matsuda then began to think about why he couldn't save the young man. He was just lost of thought that time. He no idea what to do, he assumed it was just overreaction. Matsuda sighed. Days after that day, was the last time he had visited the coffee shop.
It was a little chilly, he had took the same green scarf he had on now with him that day. He thought about how barren the day was. But that wasn't the day that had gotten to him, it took more than what he thought to break him to pieces.
He took another drink out of the cup, the coffee was a little more sweet than he had remembered it. The black haired man thought he had probably put a little more sugar than he thought.
He picked up the paper cup and began headed out the door as he put a tip in the tip jar. He began walking down the sidewalk. The black hair man started heading home, his job was done for the day.
"Oi! Matsuda! Where are you heading off to?" Aizawa asked the man.
"Just a small walk around the city, I'm not going anywhere major." Matsuda replied as he put on his coat and wrapped around his green scarf.
He started walking down the sidewalk. Matsuda wrapped his arms around himself and gave a little shiver. It was cold enough to where he could see his breath. He looked around as he started walking.
Matsuda opened the glassed door of the coffee shop and headed inside. He came up to the cashier and made his order. After receiving the order he sat on one the seats. He sighed and looked outside.
The day was beautiful, but cold, it felt quite empty. Matsuda took a sip out of the coffee, the warm heat of it made him feel a little better. He smiled softly and looked out the window then frowned a bit. The day was nice, but he wasn't as happy as usual.
That was okay though, some days are good while others are not. He tried to keep his positive attitude. He had kept for a couple more years, but of course, it did just fly away. The younger Matsuda went through a small train of thought then started heading out.
He had decided to go back to work early today. Breaks aren't really as long as he wished them to be. But to complete his goals and dreams, he had to put lots of effort into it. He smiled brightly, tucked in his scarf and began heading to his building. Today was another long day as usual.
The black haired man smiled with a spark. The memories, bad or good, they somewhat made him feel a little better. He felt as if he understood himself a bit more. Maybe the rest of this day would be a very good one for him.
Matsuda took out his keys and unlocked the door to his house. He walked in and set his scarf and coat down. The black haired man looked up to see a child come up to him. He had a bright look in his eyes and ran up to Matsuda.
"Dad! You're home! Finally! I have something really, really cool to show you!" The young child said to his father.
"Is that so?" Matsuda replied to his child.
"Yes! Yes! I made it at school! Mom is in the room waiting for us!" The child jumped with joy.
"Alright, I'll come. You've been having a great time at school lately, haven't you?" Matsuda chuckled and smiled.
"Yes! I really am!" The child shouted.
"Have you been making any new friends lately?" Matsuda asked.
"Of course I've made a friend! He's very gentle and quiet though! I really think he's a great friend! I'll introduce him to you and mom one day, so don't sweat it!"
"That's really nice. Let's go talk to mom now." Matsuda said with a smile. "She's had a long day too hasn't she?"
"Yes! Mom has been busy like you are! But that's a good thing, you guys both work hard to keep everything strong!" The child said brightly.
The two headed in the bedroom to meet up with his wife. He had a family that appreciated and that always waited for him. He did have things to cheer him up a bit. He smiled at the thought, maybe he could be his happy self again. That person that attracted his wife and made his child have that certain spark.
EDIT: Okay, so the first version of this story, the linebreaks hadn't appeared, so I had to go back, I decided to add the little mark in between.