A/N: I own none of the characters or themes from Death Note. I do, however, own Amaya Rin, my OC. Paper Things owns Karasu Kaguya.
Pairings: B/OC, slight L/OC, Mell/OC
Anime: Death Note
Genre: Crime/Romance
Summary: When all that you are is ripped out from under you, how do you find the need to live, to thrive and grow once more? B/OC and Mell/OC
XXXX
The white haired female bit down into her drumstick. "Sho…what do choo fink boud da no kafe?"
Her companion, a black haired female with red eyes, sighed, and then said "Please, Amaya-chan, please don't talk with your mouth full. It's impolite"
Said female rolled her eyes, and then finished chewing her mouthful and swallowed. "Whatever, Karasu. Stop being so damn stiff. You're so damn formal you remind me of a fucking stick. Take some fucking time off. You know, it just might help you relax a little. Enjoy the small things in life. You know, that sort of nirvana-shit? Anyways, what I said was 'so what do you think about the new case?'"
Karasu herself rolled her eyes and didn't comment, instead choosing to pick at her homemade salad. "I think that the 'case' is a total waste of time. I mean, seriously, it's just a freaking break-in. Who cares?"
At that, Karasu's blood-red eyes pierced her own ice-blue ones. "Just a break-in? Just a BREAK-IN?!?!?!?! IT WASN'T JUST A FREAKING BREAK-IN, AMAYA!!!!!" Suddenly the raven-haired female seemed aware of all of the customers of the KFC staring at her. She lowered her eyes to stare at her salad, and then slowly sat down, since she had risen out of her seat during the abrupt outburst.
After she was seated and the other customers returned to their prior conversations, Karasu's eyes once again held their previous crimson fire. She spoke, but her voice was much lower-pitched than before, almost inaudible. "It wasn't just a break-in, Amaya. Nothing was stolen, nothing broken except for the one window. There was no evidence of the break-in, except for the window and a crossword puzzle. Only that, and a single murdered person. Her spine had been broken by a heavy object, her neck as well. And she was a nine year old girl. This isn't just a break-in, Amaya. This is homicide and break-and-entering, though nothing was stolen. Felonies, Amaya. Not just a damn break-in"
Her white haired companion stared at the raven-haired female, her icy eyes widened in surprise. Then they held the glint of amusement and mischief that was usually displayed. "You sound like the fucking briefing that we got on the case. Again, so damn formal" Amaya stated, her lips curling slightly at the corners to show her amusement.
Karasu huffed, then mumbled something that resembled 'whatever, you white-haired freak'. Amaya just smirked. Then bit into her drumstick again.
They sat in silence, with Amaya happily eating her dinner of mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken, and Karasu staring out the window at the passing cars on the road, not hungry anymore, so she didn't touch her salad again.
Suddenly Amaya's chosen ringtone for Matsuda started playing. The song was 'Through the Fire and Flames' by Dragonforce.
She picked up the black Blackberry and answered. "'Ello?"
"Amaya-chan?" Matsuda's voice asked.
"Well, duh, who ELSE would it be?"
"I…I don't know. Anyways, you better get back to HQ. Light thinks that you've been out for too long"
"Oh, tell him to put a sock in it. On second thought, don't. Let ME tell that prissy asshole. We're coming, we're done here anyways"
"O…okay. See you then"
"Yeah. In, like, what, two minutes? Bye" the white haired female said, and then hung up before he could reply. She looked over at Karasu, who had her attention back on Amaya, and was sitting with her arms crossed and her left eyebrow raised.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" Amaya asked self-consciously as she rubbed her face, trying to look casual. You can never trust fried food. Evil stuff, it is, getting grease all over your face and…stuff.
"No. But….Through the Fire and Flames? Seriously, for MATSUDA?"
Amaya exhaled, grateful that there really WAS nothing on her face. She remembered that one time with the icing from a piece of cake…that bastard-of-a-glob just wouldn't. Come. Off!!
Then she shrugged. "I was time-pressed when I chose it, and then I just left it. It KINDA fits. Anyways, we gotta get back. The bastard' is getting suspicious. We should just say when he asks where we were 'oh yeah, Light. We were having dinner with Mello and Near at the KFC across the street. They're nice people, really, once you get past the criminally-insane-but-stunningly-smart and super-smart-and-REALLY-inquisitive minds. I'm sure he'll be REAL happy with that"
Karasu snorted softly "That would be highly amusing. Imagine his face"
Amaya smirked, and the two of them stood. Amaya slung her black messenger bag over her dark denim capris and her black vest over a dark, dark purple tanktop. The vest was oddly similar to Mello's. Maybe they liked the same designer.
Karasu just grabbed her own messenger bag, which was blood red with black crows coming from the bottom left corner and spreading out, and slung it over her black tubetop with red stitch-looking lining and black jeans.
They both wore black Converse, though Amaya had Sharpie-ed hers so that there were random swirls and checkers and stuff along the white rubber.
"We look like teenagers" Amaya commented as they placed their trash in the garbage can.
"We ARE teenagers, in case you have forgotten" Karasu replied. They left through the door, the bell chiming as they exited.
They waited on the curb outside, waiting for the traffic to ease up so that they could sprint across to the giant building that they labeled with words like 'work' and 'hell-hole' and 'HQ' and 'Yagami-baka's prison-in-disguise'
A temporary lull of the cars gave the two females time to sprint across the street and through the glass doors. Through an unspoken agreement, they raced up the sixteen flights of stairs and tried to see who would get to L's conference-meeting-ish room first. After reaching the door at the exact same time, they agreed without words that it was a tie, and they quickly settled down into their respective spots, still slightly panting from having raced up 16 flights of stairs. Meaning: Karasu next to L, and Amaya (quite literally) kicking Light out of his seat so that she could steal it.
"Fuck it. That couch could pass as a stone-age slab of granite. Have your damn seat back" Amaya stated, just to ruffle Light's feathers. She then threw her bag towards the door's general direction (after making sure that it was SECURELY (padlocks and all) secured, of course) and sauntered over to Light's computer desk.
"Light, hon, I hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna close all of your crap. I gotta check my email. B might have emailed me"
"Tell me if he did, alright, Amaya?" Karasu called.
"Yeah, sure" Amaya replied, not really paying attention.
"Excuse me, but did you just say 'B'?" L asked.
"Yeah. He's, uh….our friend in….uh….Kentucky. You know, 'B' is short for…uh…Bernard! Yeah, his name is Bernard. He's a rodeo cowboy. Sometimes he emails me photos of the last rodeo. You know….all-American stuff?" Amaya lied. She and Karasu had apparently momentarily forgotten that they had both once lived together at Watari's House. She desperately hoped that he bought her lie. He nodded once, though his panda-eyes showed that he was still slightly suspicious and wary.
"Oi, ease up. You're all tense. Did you find out anymore about the Kira case? Like who the Kira is? Seriously, I bet that the guy is a total assholic bastard" she said as she walked back towards him. She could check her email quickly. Usually all that she got were comments on her fansite that she made for the Task Force (not revealing any names or photos or locations, of course) or junk mail, with the occasional forwarded message. Usually nothing of much importance.
At the end of her question, both her own and Karasu's eyes flicked towards Light, though most would think that they were looking to see if he would show in his eyes whether or not they got information. The two of them knew who was Kira, and they could see Ryuk hovering close by, since they, much like a trade between shinigami and human for Shinigami Eyes, they had special contacts that allowed the vision of the shinigami. They had gotten the contacts by killing for the shinigami. The shinigami could have killed with the Death Note, but they relented and made the deal.
Though Amaya and Karasu seemed to be innocent, care-free-though-extremely-smart teenagers who used to live at Watari's House in the female wing, they were actually ruthless cold-blooded killers when the need arose. They both knew how to use all sorts of weapons, from almost all types of guns to bows and arrows and knives and swords. At Watari's they had always been more interested in weapons than becoming L's successor, so it was only natural that they had become the very definition perfect assassins.
"No. We know no more about Kira, though recently he has killed another criminal. Nathaniel Jenkins, serial killer of a total of 13 humans in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia"
"That's not THAT bad" Karasu stated
The whole room gave her odd looks. She quickly realized her error and corrected it. "I...I mean that it isn't THAT high of an amount. Thank god that there were no more dead than 13. If Kira hadn't killed him, who KNOWS how many more homicides he could have committed?"
"Well, now. It's about 10, and, you know, the clock is ticking, and…heh, we need to get some sleep. So…bye, everyone!" Amaya called as she grabbed Karasu's wrist and her own bag and nearly flew towards the door.
Once they got onto the concrete curb outside, Karasu whirled towards Amaya. "What the hell was THAT about?!"
Amaya feigned a look of innocence. "What was what about, Crow-chan?"
Growling slightly in annoyance at the situation and at the nickname, Karasu snarled "Why did you drag me out of the room?"
Amaya put on a pseudo mask of surprise. "Oh! THAT! Well, you looked uncomfortable, and we had to clock out five minutes ago"
Karasu growled and just hailed a taxi. Being only 15, they couldn't drive yet, so they had to hitch rides with the other taskforce members and on taxis and buses.
Amaya slid onto the black leather seat next to a still-fuming Karasu since they lived in the same apartment complex.
The ride was in silence, and when Karasu just carelessly strode out of the yellow cab, Amaya tipped the driver a 20 and told him to keep the change. As Amaya ran up the four flights of stairs to her apartment, she glanced down the hall and saw the door of Karasu's apartment closing. She shrugged and entered her own apartment, only to be greeted by her Australian Shepard puppy, which was named Sasori.
XXXX
Karasu entered her apartment, which was decorated with the color scheme of a cardinal red relaxing color. She leaned against her lavender door and closed her eyes. Honestly, she didn't know why Amaya's dragging riled her so much. Normally she just acted impassive or unconcerned about whatever her slightly insane friend came up with, but that one thing…. she just…. well, she just snapped. It might have been that she was embarrassed in front of L, who had been her secret crush since she joined the taskforce. It might have been the stress of both the Kira case and all the other smaller side jobs. Whatever it was, she was alarmed. She normally NEVER snapped.
Trying to calm down, she walked over to her gigantic stereo system and put in her Avenged Sevenfold CD. Maybe she just needed to calm down a little? It was worth a shot, right?
XXXX
The white haired female gave a small smile as she flipped through a row of her most favorite bands. Finally choosing Breaking Benjamin, she swiftly yet efficiently slid in the CD into her stereo and turned up the volume until the let the music blast as she finished up her algebra homework on her orange and black bouncy bed.
Just as soon as she picked up her favorite black and gray mechanical pencil, her Blackberry rang the same song, 'Matsuda…' she sighed and slammed her pencil down as she lowered the volume on her stereo and spoke, "What do you want Matsuda?!"
A minute of silence passed through the phone for a while before a strange voice spoke, "This is Ryuuzaki."
She held the phone away from her ear and stared at it weirdly as if it really were L, "What the fuck are you doing with Matsuda's phone?!"
L responded as if she didn't say that, "I want you and Karasu to come to Taskforce immediately. I found…surprising information…"
Amaya narrowed her eyes, 'Did he find out about B?' She spoke with confidence and importance in her voice, "Hai…but… Karasu's really pressured about it now, I don't think she wants to come out of her apartment."
The world's greatest genius seemed reluctant at first, then sounded demanding and firm, "No, I want answers, and both of you have answers…do not think of running away, because I placed bugs in Karasu and your apartments."
She shouted rather loudly, "WHAT THE HELL?! WHO THE FUCK DID YOU SEND INTO OUR APARTMENTS?!"
"The time you invited Near over to your apartment, Karasu was at the bookstore, so he placed a couple in hers after he left yours." he replied.
'Sneaky bastard…' she thought of Near. 'Never trust a guy in pajamas!' she smirked and noted to herself. "Fine, Karasu and I will be over soon."
"I already sent Watari to pick you up." With that, he hung up.
Amaya raised an eyebrow, "That's… fast…"
XXXX
Knock, knock, knock…KNOCK, KNOCK, KNO―The lavender door slammed open with an annoyed looking red-eyed teenage female standing in front of it. Today was just certainly not her day. Karasu sighed as she saw a panic-struck Amaya, "What is it?"
In quick words, she grabbed Karasu's wrist and dragged her away down towards the main entrance, "Ryuuzaki-san wants us to meet him… I think he's found out about B." Karasu's eyes widened and the hairs on the back of her neck
A shiny black Toyota Supra pulled in as Karasu hesitantly opened the door to see Watari driving, and in the passenger's seat was L. Amaya gulped and slowly crawled into the left side of the back seat and buckled up. Karasu followed quietly.
Karasu was the most nervous, considering that L was her deepest crush. The black haired girl buckled up and stammered, "L-san…a...ano…"
L stared at Amaya's icy-blue eyes, and then to Karasu's well-concealed red-eyes, "I got the Task Force to hack into Amaya's e-mail…I read the letter. Now tell me, where is Beyond Birthday?"
Amaya replied first, "What the fuck are you talking about?! I keep saying, he's Bernard from Kentucky―"
Karasu sighed, cutting off Amaya's lie, "Please, don't arrest him…I'll tell you he's somewhere in Japan or Europe, but I won't tell you anything else."
The white haired girl gasped at Karasu's weak attempt and whispered, "What are you doing?!"
L spoke, "Why are you defending him? Did you know he is a serial killer? Did you know he can kill you any second now, Karasu?"
Amaya snarled at the black-haired male. "MAYBE she is defending him because it is the RIGHT THING TO DO!!!"
Karasu laid her pale hand on Amaya's equally pale arm. "Chill. Thank you for defending me, but please don't get into my fights"
"Oi, Karasu. L is fucking with ME, too. That pisses me off" she turned back to L "And if you don't STOP fucking with us and our heads, I will NOT hesitate to kick your ass, is that clear?"
"You would risk your job on the Task Force to defend your friends?" L asked, slightly appalled but not showing it.
"Any day" Amaya and Karasu replied at the same time, straight-faced.
Yes, L was their boss. Yes, L was a genius, the smartest person possibly in the whole world. Yes, Karasu had a severely deep crush on him. But ANYONE that threatened her friends was an enemy, even if for a moment.
Karasu held L's black gaze for a moment before looking away.
"You don't know him like we do.
XXXX
"Why are YOU in charge, Light-san?" I asked politely. "Shouldn't it be Matsuda or your father?"
"That is none of your concern, Karasu. However, if you MUST know, Ryuuzaki left me in charge during his trip to Australia"
"Why did L go to Australia?" Amaya asked.
"He didn't share that particular piece of information with me. However, Amaya, you have an interrogation later today"
Crap-on-a-stick. Amaya? Interrogation? They didn't mix.
"A…are you sure that that's a good idea, Light-san?"
"If she doesn't practice her interrogation skills then she will never reach a higher rank" he replied. Then he swiveled his chair so that he was once again facing the screen of the computer. I glanced over his shoulder at the site. A bunch of numbers and letters and….stuff. I couldn't watch for long as he clicked and typed.
Also, Amaya started talking, and when she talked in this particular tone, its best if you pay attention unless you get your behind kicked.
"I could give a fuck less about my rank! I will not interrogate anyone!!! Even if it's MELLO, I refuse to interrogate them!!"
Light gave her a hard, flat, cold and commanding stare. "You WILL" 'will' was spoken in an odd deep, double-edged timbre that I had never heard before.
Meekly she nodded. "Y…yes, Light-sama"
She left the room with a glazed look in her eyes.
Light-SAMA?!?! Not BAKA?!?! What the hell did he do to her?!?!
