A/N: Hiyas! This be my first fanfic, which Im writting with my friend, ShatteredBlackHeart. She's actually physically doing all the writting, but Im suppling loads of ideas for the plotline and its about me, and I want to read it, soooo yeah...
Well, it starts the day of the exam, which you will be able to tell when you decide to skip the rest of this authors note, cause i ramble too much...anyways...I am as crazy as my OC, Aya...possibly more...and ...i cant think of anything else to say, cause i dont want to ramble...*fail*
anyways...Disclaimer! I do not own Death Note. Or the evil bike...wait...yes i do own the bike...
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She lazy draped an arm over her eyes as the brilliant morning rays shone through the window. The stems of a cherry blossom tree tapped gently against the windowpane, a bird chirped faintly in the distance.
She lay on her back, the upper half of her body hanging off the edge of the bed. Inhaling a deep breath, she shifted to rest in a more comfortable position. But as she wriggled in the tangle of sheets, she slipped off the bed and banged her head against the floor.
Her legs were freed from the knots of blankets and came to rest on the cool wooden boards. As pain shot through the top of her skull, a prolonged beeping noise came from somewhere off to her right. She groggily opened her eyes. She was staring off into the monstrous depths of space beneath her bed, where an aged pairs of sneakers lay, along with a tattered book, a crumpled candy bar wrapper, and an army of dust bunnies.
The beeping noises continued, gradually growing louder, like the voice of a cantankerous old man.
"Where is that noise coming from...?" she mumbled, groping the edge of the bed and pulling herself up.
Once she was eye-level with the nightstand, she glanced at the clutter strewn across the small table, and noticed a dusty alarm clock sitting on one of the corners. Its neon green numbers where flashing a vivid 9:38.
She frowned.
9:38...didn't the entrance exams start at 10—?
"Oh crap."
Scrambling to her feet, she bounded into the bathroom, jerking on the faucet and splashing a handful of water against her face.
Her cell phone, abandoned on the nightstand in the bedroom, began to rattle obnoxiously. She ignored it and instead stole up a hairbrush from one of the cabinets. Her eyes pricked with pain as she jerked the brush through her matted locks. Through the blurry vision and hasty hair-brushing, her phone switched to voicemail, asking the caller to leave a message.
"Aya!!" an irritated voice screamed from the phone. "Where are you?! The entrance exams start in twenty minutes!! Call me back A-S-A-P!!"
She groaned as she threw the brush down and started to dig through the drawers for her toothbrush and toothpaste. "Of all days to sleep through the alarm..." she growled.
Five minutes later, dressed and prepared, she was sprinting out of her apartment, strapping her bookbag across her shoulder. She made her way outside to the back of the building, where the bike rack seat leaning against the dirty brick wall. She singled out her bulky, navy bicycle and unlocked it from the rack, mounting it and preparing to kick off down the sidewalk.
But a stern voice stopped her.
"Miss Hayashi!"
She turned nervously to see a primly-dressed, middle-aged woman storming towards her, the woman's eyes narrowed to an unmerciful blaze.
"Yes, Montoya?"
"It's Miss Montoya," the woman said as she reached Aya, blocking her path by standing in front of the bike with her arms folded.
Aya shifted on her toes anxiously, tightening her grip on the handlebars. "Can this wait? I have to—"
"You haven't paid the rent for over two months now, Miss Hayashi."
"I'm about to get a job, I promise—"
"Funny, you've been promising me that for the past couple of months."
"Look, MissMontoya," Aya snapped bitterly, her knuckles turning a pallid white as her patience waned. "I applied for a job at a café just a few days ago. As soon as my new uniform is mailed to me, I'll be on the job and on the payroll."
Aya started to back up and set her feet on the pedals, but Montoya followed, continuing to stand in the way. "You've had your chance. I want the rental payment now." She extended a hand palm-up, curling her fingers towards herself to emphasize her impatience.
Aya looked from the woman to the outstretched hand, her gaze darting between the two uneasily. Her eyes floated to the empty street. The sunlit gravel beckoned her towards the route that led to the exam building. She slowly set her feet on the pedals.
"I'm sorry—"
"Oh, you will be!"
"—but this will have to wait," Aya finished, kicking past Montoya and speeding onto the street. She pedaled furiously, never glancing over her shoulder at the woman screeching after her. Smoothly rounding a corner, she started for the building where the entrance exams to To-Oh University were soon to begin.
She stole a glance at the phone gripped in her left hand. She had less than fifteen minutes left before the gates were closed off and the exams began.
Aya turned her eyes back to the pavement, pedaling harder and more erratically. "Where's a pair of wings when you need 'em?" she muttered, looking up to the skies.
"Ryuzaki?" Watari tapped twice on the door with his knuckle, receiving no reply. He tucked his left arm around the polished metal tray he was carrying, and opened the door with his right hand.
The room was dark, only illuminated by the sliver of light escaping into the room from the hallway.
While he waited momentarily for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he called out softly. "Ryuzaki? Are you awake?"
There was a shifting from something in the farthest corner of the room. Quickly tired of squinting through the darkness, Watari felt along the wall beside the doorway and clicked on the light switch.
Ryuzakiwas crouched in an armchair in the left corner farthest from the door, arms around his knees and thumb perched atop his lower lip. His toes curled and relaxed beneath the hems of his jeans. Dark shadows lingered beneath his lower eyelids, the usual shade for the usual amount of sleep he lost to his work as a detective.
Watari glanced at the television, which was hissing softly as all the electrical currents in its system died down. "I thought I advised that you use this time to sleep, Ryuzaki," he said, turning to stare at the untouched bed.
"You did ask me to try and sleep, Watari," the world's greatest detective answered, "but you've also known me for a great deal of my life. It should be obvious by now that I only sleep when rest is of the utmost importance."
"Still, it was worth a try," Watari said as he proceeded to set the tray down on the foot of the bed. "I brought you some breakfast, sir."
Ryuzaki turned to the tray, laden with an array of items. He slowly slid out of his chair and shuffled over to hover above the food. He picked around a plate of scrambled eggs, some two or three pieces of toast, some bacon. His upper lip twitched with distaste. "An actual breakfast? Why the sudden change, Watari?"
The corners of the old man's lips fought a smile. "I thought it might help to have more than junk food in your system while you take the entrance exams."
"I think I'll take the risk," Ryuzaki replied as he began to take the sweets off the tray. Once all the desired foods were removed (a banana, a plate of doughnuts, some pastries, and a cup of tea) Ryuzaki took up the sweets in his arms and sat back down in the armchair.
"Sometimes I wonder why you don't collapse on the spot from malnutrition and lack of sleep," Watari remarked. He took up a piece of toast and stole a bite.
Ryuzaki began to lick the chocolate icing off one of the doughnuts. "Any updates on the Kira investigation?"
"Nothing from the other Task Force members."
"That's a shame," he said, before shoveling half of the doughnut into his mouth. "I was hoping for a new lead to keep my mind off those exams."
Watari smiled. "Someone's rather confident today, aren't they?"
Finishing off the doughnut (along with several more), Ryuzaki took a bowl of sugar cubes and started adding cubes to his cup of tea. "I have more to worry about than college entrance exams."
Watari nodded in agreement, walking over to the wardrobe sitting beside the door. He eased open the top drawer and pulled out the typical long-sleeved white shirt and jeans. "Be prepared to leave in ten minutes," he said as he tossed the clothes onto the bed and picked up the tray.
Ryuzakitook a sip of tea and winced. "Too bitter," he muttered, adding another five sugar cubes to the cup.
Several minutes later, sweet tooth momentarily tamed and changed into new clothes, Ryuzaki joined Watari in the polished limousine parked in the back lot of the hotel.
They drove in unperturbed silence. When they reached the exam buildings, Watari pulled over at the curb and gave Ryuzaki an encouraging smile. "Good luck, Ryuzaki."
"Thank you," he nodded as he got out of the car.
"Oh, Ryuzaki!" Watari objected as he started to close the door.
"What is it?"
Watari turned to dig in the backseat of the car, yanking out a brand new pair of tennis shoes from the back.
Ryuzaki groaned when he saw the shoes.
"At least wear them when you walk in, Ryuzaki," Watari advised, tossing the shoes off to him.
"Fine," Ryuzaki mumbled heatedly under his breath as he slid the shoes over his bare feet. The shoes felt so out of place...so uncomfortable...but they werebetter than socks...Ryuzaki shuddered.
"Good luck," grinned Watari, before speeding away down the street.
As soon as the limousine was gone and out of sight, Ryuzaki cautiously turned to start down the walkway. Glancing left, right, and over his shoulder, deciding that the coast was clear, he bent down and ripped the shoes off his feet.
Once the entrance exam center was in sight, Aya pedaled as fast as humanly possible, the cool breeze combing through her hair and sending it flying every which way. Angry pedestrians dodged her and called out in frustration, cars honked when she veered too close to the street.
Less than two hundred feet away, the entrance to the exam center was soon to be closed off, a group of men were sliding the gate into place.
"Make way!" she cried, taking the men by surprise when she sped through the narrow sliver of space between the gate.
There were still some stragglers entering the building, but it was safe to say she had been the last one in. She hurried along after them, shouting at them to get out of her way.
When she was close enough to the building that it was safe to get off her bike, she wrapped her hands around the brakes attached to the handlebar. She expected the bike to ease to a halt, but it kept going, advancing toward the entrance.
Her eyes widened when she looked down to see the brakes were pulled all the way back. They were supposed to be working! She looked up frantically as her bike led her through the open doorway and into the entrance hall of the building.
"How do you stop this thing?!" she yelled. The tires screeched on the smooth linoleum flooring, leaving dark spurts of tire tracks in the bike's wake.
People screamed as they leapt out of her way, falling back against the walls and scrambling into the safety of classrooms and offices. There were even the occasional few that turned and ran in the other direction, before they got smart enough to step aside, out of her path.
As she guided the unstoppable bike around a corner, she looked up nervously to see a guy hunched over with his back to her, one hand in his pocket and the other grasping a pair of tennis shoes. He didn't seem to realize a girl riding a bike without working brakes was swiftly approaching him.
Her eyes widened to the point where they should have popped out of her skull. "Hey!" she yelled, the bike quickly shortening the distance between them.
He hesitated in his shuffling step, looking over his shoulder. His eyes were instantly as wide as hers.
Before he had time to react, the bike plowed into him, knocking him off his feet. He, Aya, and the evil brakeless bike went flying into the air, the two of them crying out as the bike wobbled in midair and neared the ground.
The bike landed on its side, sparks flying as the bulky metal skidded across the large linoleum tiles. Aya hit the floor first, continuing to slide over the floor. The poor guy she'd run into fell after her, landing clumsily on top of her. They slid down the hall together, before finally colliding against the wall on the far end of the corridor.
Aya's head spun and her eyes blurred as shiny flickers of white light dotted her vision. The other guy wasn't doing so well either, seeing as his body was suddenly deadweight and his eyes were half-shut.
No one eagerly rushed over to help them, but Aya could have sworn some stranger was examining the bike, looking around before stooping over to pick it up. "Hands off!" she shouted. "I'll have you sued if you lay one finger on the bike!" The stranger flinched and ran off down the corridor, disappearing around the corner.
Ayalooked back at the guy she'd collided with, his back lying across her middle. She tried to shake him off, but she was too sore from the collision that she quickly gave up.
When the guy came to, he glanced around nervously, quickly realizing he was on top of her. He jumped to his feet, staggering a little bit as he regained his balance. A slight tinge of color rushed to his ashen cheeks as he looked back at Aya.
"Uh...s-sorry..." he murmured, flustered and embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
Aya shakily sat up, her muscles tense and her back rigid. When she tried to stand up, she slipped and fell back hopelessly against the wall. She raised her head and gave the guy an expectant look.
He frowned, lowering his hand and holding her gaze.
"Aren't you going to help me up?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Oh!" he answered hastily, taking her hand in his and pulling her to her feet. Once she was standing, she tripped over her toes and fell against him. He took a step back to keep his balance, but they managed to stay standing.
Aya stepped back from him, clearing her throat and avoiding his gaze.
"Um...are you...okay?" the guy asked.
Aya bit her lower lip, fighting a fit of laughter. His social skills were unbelievably low. "Yeah, I'm fine...uh—?"
"Ryuzaki," he answered to her questioning gaze.
"Aya," she said.
Suddenly a man appeared beside them. "You two! The exams start in two minutes! Get to your seats!"
As he rushed off down the hall, Aya turned back to Ryuzaki. "Guess I'll see you around?" she smiled.
She could have sworn a flash of pink darted across his cheeks again.
"Yeah...uh, see you around...Aya."
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A/N: Please Review!!
I hope to have the next chapter up this week...but who knows? we have blocked sceduling all week, so we should be able to get this going!! Seeyas!!