My life is cold. Very cold and dull. There is no colour in my neighbourhood, with most of the houses bordered up, and left to rot. I'm the last on my street. My house is small, with one bedroom upstairs, the kitchen, dining room, and living room all rolled into one on the ground floor and a bathroom down in the basement. If it wasn't for Death note, there would be no colour in my life. The anime brings warmth to my heart, and the characters always seem to speak out to me. To the outside world I am nothing but a sad, single, twenty year old woman living alone. But when I watch Death note, I can picture myself inside the action. Working alongside L. When I watch him, my heart sours and I dream of being a detective. It gives me hope. When I go to bed I can dream of the life where I am important, where even the great L relies on me to give him hope when times are bad, where people come to me for advice. Even when I wake up in the morning and go to work at an ungodly hour of the morning, I still think about L, what it would be like to met him. But I will never know.
I was walking home when I found him. It was pouring with rain, and I just happened to see the little bundle curled up on the side of the round, just a few blocks from my house. I couldn't see well in the rain but something about it caught my eye, and my feet instantly turned towards it. As I drew close, I saw that it was a small child, with raven black hair, a white shirt and blue jeans. "Oh no." I muttered as I crouched. That's when I saw it. The tail. I froze, blood pumping in my ears. The child had a long, black cat's tail slithering from the top of his jeans. I would have thought it was fake if it hadn't pulled even closer to the small boy's body. I gently rested my hand on his shoulder "hay little guy. What you doing all alone in the rain" My voice was calm but my head was spinning. What was this thing? And why did he look so much like L? The creature turned its head to look at me, and his face removed any doubt in my mind that this wasn't L. His face matched L's exactly, just a lot younger than the L I knew from the anime. He stared up at me with those huge, panda eyes. He looked so cute and innocent, and I knew that I couldn't leave him here in the rain. However, I couldn't just take a child I found on the street home.
But he isn't a child.
The thought ran through my head.
He's something else. Some human like thing with a cat tail and cat ears. It would be like taking a stray cat home. You will be doing it a favour.
I considered this. I wanted to take him home I really did. Take him into my home and care for him like he was my own child. But I needed to make sure he was a neko, and that he didn't belong to someone already.
But who would leave something like this, like outside on the street in the pouring rain? This isn't making sense.
I signed and just went with my instincts. Crouching down, I put my arm around the small shape shivering in the icy rain. "Where's your mummy and daddy?" I said as gentle as I could. The boy's face was streaked with rain, but somehow I knew it was also streaked with tears too. The creature continued staring at me for a little while, before suddenly throwing its arms around my neck, clinging on with all its little strength. Before I could stop myself, I had lifted it fully into my arms. I sighed and stood up. I might as well that the creature home, see if I can find out more about whom it belonged to. It might die if I left it here, and I could at least get him dry, give him some hot food and maybe a warm bed for the night. It would be doing no harm...right?
So that is how I ending up walking through the pouring rain, with the small, shivering bundle, tucked under my coat. He hadn't tried to stop me; he had just gone limp when I picked him up. He really was soaked to the skin, so he had probably been out in the rain for hours.
Poor little thing. Whoever left him doesn't deserve him. You could give him a lovely, safe home couldn't you?...
I pushed those thoughts out of my mind, and focused on getting the creature home, into the warmth.
When I finally did get to my front door, with its peeling paint and rusty knocker, I managed to turn the brass handle without disturbing the creature tucked under my coat too much. I hurried inside and shut the door behind me. The sound of the pouring rain was muffled, and in the quiet I could hear the creature breathing deeply under my coat. I quickly slithered into the living room, and crouched down on the old, worn rug. I gently unzipped my coat, and took it out from the folds of my shirt. Resting it on the rug, I could see it was asleep, its chest rising and falling so gently. I stared at the long tail curled around itself, at the cat like ears poking through its spiky black hair. I reach out with one hand, and stroked the creature head my fingers slithering through its hair. Its eyes flashed open, and its black pupils met mine. I saw fear fly through them, and the creature sat up straight.
"hay hay shh its alright," I smoothed. "I'm not going to hurt you little guy." My words seemed to calm him a little, and some of the fear left his eyes. I reached out again and gently rubbed one of his ears, keeping my actions very slow so I didn't startle him again. He froze again, but then gently rubbed his face against my hand in a very cat-like way. He suddenly crawled onto my lap, snuggling into my chest, looking for warmth and safety. I provided him this small request as best I could, by warping on arm around his small frame and stroking his head. I hadn't felt more peaceful in that short time when I held the small, strange creature in my arms, with the rain pattering on the window panes.
The next hour I spent rushing around just making the creature warm. After I had lit the log fire and ran the creature a hot bath, I returned to him. He started at me, water running down his face. I smiled comfortingly, and gently warped my arms around him and lifted him clean off the floor; I felt his little hands hook around my neck, clinging on like a little monkey would to its mother. When I reached the bathroom, I put him down again and undressed him, putting the wet clothes into a pile. I stared in almost complete amazing at the creatures black tail, which he curled around himself as soon as it was free. Suddenly, I noticed the creature cower slightly, staring at me with those huge, panda like eyes, warping its arms around itself. I reached forward again, sliding my hands under his arms, lifting him off the floor again. As I lifted him above the steaming bathtub, he glanced down at the water, before staring at me in complete terror.
I frowned "Don't you like water?" The creature shook its head so fast it blurred. I took a deep breath. I knew I was going to hate myself for what I was about to do but it was the quickest way to get the creature warm. I quickly lowered the creature into the water before he could protest anymore. He squeaked and thrashed about a little, but otherwise just looked up at me, the feelings of betrayal clear in his eyes. I stroked his head "aww I'm sorry little guy, but I have to get you warm. And clean" He looked away, but other than that didn't complain about the water again.
I set about washing the creature, which he didn't seem to mind in the slightest and he seemed to really relish me rubbing the shampoo into his midnight locks. But when it came to washing the shampoo out, he didn't enjoy it as much. I tried leaning him back into the water but he wouldn't allow me to complete submerge him in water. So I fetched a plastic jug, and used it to pour the water over the creature's head, which caused him to squeal quite loudly and glare at me through his hair. I giggled and poured another jug of water over his head.
When I was done washing him, I pulled him out the bath and rubbed him dry. Warping the towel round him, I then carried him back into the main room, which was now much warmer due to the fire burning very brightly. I sat down on the old, worn sofa, placing the creature neatly on my lap. He hugged the towel closer around him, and then snuggled into my chest. I smiled and stroked his head gently "Are you hungry?" I asked softly.
He looked up at me and nodded, a small smile spreading on his face.
"Would you like…strawberry cheese cake?" I couldn't resist asking him.
His eyes widen in joy, and his smiled widened. The expression almost caused my heart to burst. I smiled and put him gently on the sofa as I stood.
When I came back with the slice of cake I had put neatly in a bowl, along with a tall glass of warm milk, I saw creature peeking over the back of the sofa, watching me the whole time with hawk like eyes. When I came closer, he jumped down from the sofa and sat on the floor, looking up at me. I bent down, meaning to hand the bowl to him, but instead he just scooted back a little, and looked expectantly at me, like he was waiting for me to put it down. So that's what I did, placing the bowl gently as I could. As soon as I released the bowl the creature attacked it, placing his palms flat on the floor and lowering his head to the bowl. I watched in amazement as he pushed the fork aside with his nose and munched at the cake hungrily, eating a small mouthful at a time. I put the glass down next to him and sat down opposite the creature, still watching him intently. He quickly devoured the cake and turned his attraction to the glass of milk. He frowned and tried to push his face into the glass, his tongue flicking out attempting to lap up the milk. I couldn't hold back a chuckle and reached out to balance the now teetering glass. The creature sat back and looked up at me with large, sad eyes. I smiled and poured the milk into the empty bowl. When he saw this, the creature's adorable smile returned and he pounced forward, lowering his head to the bowl again. I sat back again, watching him lap up the warm milk, and thought about why he ate and drank like that. Was he trained to do it? I felt a shiver run down my spine as I wondered why someone would train him to drink and eat like that.
When the creature had finished his milk, he sat up and shuffled crosser to the fire. I picked up the bowl and glass, carrying them through to the kitchen. When I came back, the creature had moved closer to the fire, and was now….cleaning himself?
He raised his hand up to his mouth, licked it and ran it over his face. He kept repeating this action, and I leant on the sofa, watching him once again in complete amazement. He suddenly stopped. He made a sound of disgust and lowered his hand.
I smiled "soap?" I asked, tilting my head to one side. He nodded and yawn loudly, his mouth stretching to almost comical size. I approached and scooped him into my arms "I think its bed time for you little one" He nodded again and snuggled closer to me.
I rested him on the sofa, surrounding him by pillows and warping him in blankets. I showed him where I would be, and then settled him to bed. "Do you have a name?" I asked as I crouched down next to the makeshift bed. He simple raised his hand, and made an 'L' sign with his fingers.
"L? Is that your name?" He nodded. I smiled again.
"Ok L. Goodnight" I kissed his forehead and stood up "Don't let the bed bugs bite."
It was later, a few minutes after I had gone to bed that I saw him again. I heard something land lightly on the edge of the bed, and then the same something crawling around the bed, towards me. I turned my head and was greeted by the sight of L staring at me in the dark. I smiled and he slithered under the duvet, hugging close to me. I hugged back, and once again an amazing feeling of peace came over me. I gently rested my head on his, breathing in the smell of his freshly washed hair, and fell gracefully into the realms of dreams.