I don't own Death Note or it's characters blah blah; New idea and I dunno where this is gonna go, we'll find out! Enjoy :*
"Good afternoon, welcome to Cafe Amelia. I go by Tahlia, can I take your order?"
"Great to see you again, madame. Will it be the usual for you today?"
"A date? Please sir, you're making me blush! Sorry, but I'm working a double tonight..."
It was the same thing, every single day. Go to work, go home, repeat. Tahlia ran a hand through her long, honey blonde hair as she leaned over the faded red railing of her apartment balcony. Taking a drag of the cigarette that hung between her fingers, she exhaled slowly, forming small smoke circles. A talent she had recently acquired from one of the girls at the cafe and something she was quite proud of.
Grey eyes scanning the road below, Tahlia saw the moms taking their children to school, the dog walkers, a quarrelsome old couple and her favorite: the corner bakery. If she had made one good decision in moving to Tokyo, it was renting the apartment across from the bakery.
"Good decision," she scoffed, "But, definitely not one of my defining moments."
Flicking her cigarette off the balcony, Tahlia walked back inside her cozy apartment and headed for the facedown picture on her nightstand. She picked it up and stared at the photo of a couple in love, who stared right back at her.
Actually, she only faced one pair of eyes, the ones belonging to the young man with dark brown hair. Smiling green eyes bore into her currently dull grey orbs as she looked at Tristan. Tahlia and Tristan, they were T squared, the T Team. Over, they were over and now here she was, stuck in Tokyo.
Well no, that wasn't fully correct either. She chose to stay in the overpopulated city. Chose to not let the breakup, break her. She spoke the language fluently (thank you online classes), even if her accent was eh.
Tossing the picture on her duvet, Tahlia began to rummage around her closet for an outfit. Green skinnies, brown knee length boots and a white tank were what she deemed acceptable for the day. Grabbing a few yen, she locked up her sanctuary and made her daily trek to the bakery.
"Motherfucker." So it was going to be one of those days.
Tahlia looked down at her now stained tank. A chubby teen girl stared up at Tahlia as she stammered a frightened apology.
"I-I'm sorry, it was an accident I swear," the chunker sputtered.
A chocolate sundae, of all things, nestled deeper into Tahlia's shirt, the stain somehow spreading larger on her shirt. An understanding smile forced it's way on Tahlia's lips as she dabbed at the stain with a napkin.
"Accidents happen," she said in a soft, but controlled voice, "Just be careful next time."
The girl obviously had enough problems. Besides being on the "healthy" side, she boasted a recent breakout and frizzy hair. Tahlia would bestow her wrath on someone more deserving. Perhaps it could be on the group of giggling high school girls at the back of the line, who watched the fiasco go down.
Or it could be on the black haired figure that was perched at the table in the far corner of the bakery. Her table. Yes, today was definitely going to be one of those days. Ordering her usual black coffee and yogurt, she thought about her plan of attack. Was she supposed to let this intruder simply get away with stealing her spot, the same spot she laid claim to the past two months or would she release the beast?
Hearing a throat being cleared behind her, she turned to see her order was up. Tahlia flashed a sweet smile at the employee and tuned to look back at her table and it's inhabitant.
Remembering the cold ice cream still soaking through her shirt, Tahlia let a venomous smile spread across her lips.
Beast it is.
"Hi, you must be new here. Seeing that you are, I'll let you slide today, but for future reference this is my table," Tahlia said in a sweet tone as she slipped into the seat opposite from the man.
Two black orbs bore into her. The pale face made no attempt to show any reaction he had to the girl's statement.
"You have ice cream on your shirt."
Tahlia stared dumbly at the crouched man, maybe he was...special? She felt an instant flush of guilt as the possibility ran through her mind, but that was quickly replaced with indignation when she heard his next words.
"Also, it would appear that this is not in fact your table. Seeing as you don't own the store, you cannot possibly own the property residing within it. I am a paying customer and have as much right to this table as you do. I find it quiet soothing actually, secluded as it is."
Tahlia felt a small growl begin to grow in her throat, "It's my usual table, okay?"
"Things change," he stated simply, still staring into her, staring through her. Who the hell did this guy think he was?
"Listen pal, there aren't a lot of things we can control in life, but choosing your seat in a bakery is one of them."
"So it should hold the same for me, your argument had now fallen flat."
He blinked once and began to eat the cake in front of him. Tahlia sipped her coffee in return and held back a gag as she watched the raven haired man drop several cubes of sugar into his drink. He was right, her argument fell flat. Kudos to you strange man, now let's hear your story.
"Got a name?" she asked, sweet tone replaced with her currently bitter one. No point in putting on an act now, not like she cared what this guy thought about her
"I would suppose that most people do. If you must, you can refer to me as Ryuzaki," he replied in a bored tone, now stirring his sugary drink.
"Okay," she slurred as she put a cigarette to her lips, "Don't mind if I smoke do ya?"
He looked up when she blew a ring of smoke in his direction and made a slight grimace. Bingo. Finally some reaction out of this intruding stone person.
The ring of a phone interrupted Tahlia's focus as her next smoke ring turned into a stream of smoke. Grey eyes narrowing in annoyance she watched him take the phone out of his pocket using only two fingers. He held it to his ear as if it carried some incurable disease.
What the hell, she thought.
"Yes?... Oh, well I will have to look into this... Yes, thank you Watari..."
Ryuzaki snapped the phone shut and stood up from his perch on the seat. His shoulders slumped forward as Tahlia gave him the once over. He seemed to be about the same height as her, maybe taller if he straightened up. He was a skinny guy, dressed in a baggy white long sleeve shirt and equally baggy blue jeans.
"Well I will be leaving the table now. It was a pleasure Miss..." his monotone voice trailed off with a question.
"Tahlia," she winked with a smirk, happy to have her table back to herself, "Don't count on me being so sweet next time I see you encroaching on my territory."
She could have sworn a smirk played at the edges of his lips as he turned away from her, but it was probably just her imagination.
Some day off this was turning out to be.
Having the pleasure to meet the strange Ryuzaki and a sundae to the stomach, Tahlia let a small sigh leak out through her full lips. Nowhere for this day to go, but up right?
Tahlia found herself strolling through a park near her apartment after she went home for a quick wardrobe change. The sound of guitar strings and soft drums found it's way to her ears as she searched for the origin of the sound. Two men stood in the center of a large crowd, playing their instruments in an entrancing way.
The soft vibe of the instruments seeped through Tahlia as she found herself mesmerized by the music. Completely in sync, the drum played a steady beat as the guitar rifts traveled from a quick succession of notes to a slow and peaceful rhythm. She knew this song and was surprised, seeing as the tune was underground.
The guitar player looked up for a moment and caught the passion burning behind a pair of blazing grey eyes. He beckoned for Tahlia to join their session as he saw her mouth the words of the song no one was singing. Forgetting any sort of self consciousness, or how out of place she was, Tahlia found herself walking towards the instrumental duo.
"With a little poison we can burn this whole place down, to the ground again"
Tahlia lost herself in the song, her whispery soprano voice rising and dropping in accordance with the duo's notes. Music was her true passion and it was shining through her as she found herself falling deeper into the song.
It was magnificent, the person she became when singing. Every worry or doubt she had, floated out of her mind, like nothing matter, nothing existed except the music. Her soul shone and her heart could fly away with the melody. She hadn't realized the song had ended as she looked at the men standing next to her, their faces a mixture of amazement and wonder.
The applause rang in Tahlia's ears as she heard the crowd holler for an encore. She bowed before the crowd and then to the musicians as she made an exit from the spotlight. Music wasn't something she sought to be praised for, it was something she did simply for the sake of doing.
Exiting the park in a state of bliss, Tahlia was surprised to see the sun had already begun to set. How long was I wandering around for. She quickened her pace, it wasn't that she was scared or anything, but there was this Kira guy that people were talking about.
Now that guy was something she didn't understand, a killer killing all the bad guys? Wasn't that a bit redundant? Whatever, he was obviously just as bad as the criminals he killed and even if crime was decreasing, slime balls would always be crawling the streets at night. Kira or no Kira.
Tahlia locked her apartment door and slid down it's wooden frame to the floor. She looked around her studio apartment, decorated with pieces of art she bought from local shops and littered with colour.
Her attempt to bring individuality to the studio apartment had ended up in a battle of hues. The walls suffered her indecisive wrath, covered with specks and splatters of blues, purples, greens and oranges.
All of a sudden her cozy home felt cold and lonely. Sure Tahlia spoke to friends back home in America over the internet from time to time, but she had yet to form a friendship in Japan. Hell, that weirdo from the bakery today was the closest thing she had to a friend. And she had only yelled at him. It was that bad.
Picking herself off the ground she stole a glance out the window. The moon was shaped as a crescent, her favorite. Tahlia took that as a good omen as she sank into her bed and into a light sleep.
Work. Damnit.
Tahlia woke up early to go to her beloved bakery so that she wouldn't be late for work today. Ten hour shift at the cafe? She was paying rent all by herself now, which meant a bigger workload was necessary.
As she strode into the bakery, Tahlia peered over to her table. Empty, perfect. Her day was already starting on a good note! Pulling her back down to Earth, the familiar throat-clearing of an employee reminded her of where she was. Black coffee and yogurt made it's way into Tahlia's slender hands as she once again turned towards her table.
Settling into her secluded table Tahlia dropped her wallet and found herself bending down to search for it.
"Where the fu-," was all she got out when the chair across from her suddenly moved. Hearing the screech of chair against linoleum caused Tahlia to bounce up and hit her head off the table.
"Ow..."
"Good morning Tahlia," Ryuzaki said as he dropped sugar cubes into his coffee. His eyes didn't move from their position as the frazzled girl rubbed her head in annoyance.
"Well it was good until you showed up," she spat. Wait, no you need to make friends Tahlia. Making friends means beings nice, she thought, put on a smile and suck it up. Raccoon boy is the only thing you've got right now.
"Now it's great!" she attempted in a cheerful tone, one hand still rubbing the sore spot on her head. No doubt a lump was already forming. The strange man looked up from him coffee as he watched the girl struggle to keep a smile on her face.
"Oh," was all he said to her.
"Listen, how about we start over, I feel like we got off a little rocky yesterday, eh? Well here we go. Hi! I'm Tahlia and we're sharing a table so we should be cordial since you keep sitting here..." she trailed off. Keep smiling, keep smiling, just keep smiling.
"You've already made it quite clear that you have a certain amount of uncalled for animosity towards me for sitting at this table. I don't feel it necessary for you to force yourself to be overly friendly with me. I already know your name and you mine," he stated in a slow, bored tone.
Well that wiped the smile off of her face.
"Alright fine, whatever. Listen, obviously we're going to see each other a lot if you continue coming to this bakery and sitting at my table," she began.
"The table," he corrected her.
"It's my table damnit," she continued,"Ugh. All I'm saying is this could be nice for the both of us. We could be breakfast buddies or friends or something..."
Now she felt like a loser. Ryuzaki stared at Tahlia with his empty black eyes, only they weren't empty. A flicker of emotion moved past them, only for a second, but it was there. Curiosity, maybe. Curiosity, confusion and wonder. A mix of all three?
"You want to be 'breakfast buddies' with me," he questioned the golden haired girl sitting across from him.
Tahlia fidgeted in her seat as she spoke, "Uh, well yeah...I don't have any friends here and...Well fine whatever! Think I'm stupid, just don't speak to me then if you're going to keep sitting here. I'm fine alone."
The black haired man looked at the girl with pure interest. Friends, he thought, this girl wants to be friends...with me?
"I suppose," he murmured around the bite of cheesecake he was eating.
"You suppose what, cause if it's not talking then you may as well just shut up now," she said as she felt her cheeks heating up. I'm so stupid of course he doesn't want to talk to me, look how I'm acting, she thought. "Breakfast buddies" is that a joke, what the hell, that's making it to the top five embarrassing things I've come up with...
"I suppose we can be friends," he stated as he watched Tahlia's eyes widen in surprise and saw a small smile make it's way onto her thin lips.
"Oh." Dumbstruck. She was dumbstruck. He wanted to be friends, with her, the angry blonde? Heart drumming away in her chest, she stuck out her hand to the crouched man before her.
"Friends," she said in a soft tone, grey eyes shining.
"Yes..." he said as he awkwardly enveloped her thin hand in a firm embrace.
"Ryuzaki," Tahlia said with the biggest grin that had graced her lovely features since her move to Japan, "I think we'll get along just fine."
Hey everyone! Comments/reviews are always welcomed! The lyric in this chapter was Romance is... by the amazing Lights! I can't really picture where I'm going with Flicker.. right now so this is just a little side story I wanted to start! Hope everyone liked it, stay gorgeous xo ;)
