Death note fanfiction:

In sickness and in health

Chapter One: Not alright

Monday

Light Yagami opened his eyes in the middle of the night. The room was dark, but a small beam of light was shimmering under the bathroom door. The brown-haired teen raised his hand and noticed that there was no other hand in the end of the chain – the chain that shackled him to L, the greatest detective in the world. They were investigating the serial killer Kira's case together, and unfortunately L suspected Light to be Kira. To prove his innocence Light now had to be chained to L at all times. But what was L doing now?

Light heard some noise from the bathroom, and he got out of bed. The floor felt cool under his bare feet, and the boy rubbed his tired eyes before walking to the bathroom. He knocked on the door two times.

"Ryuzaki? Is everything alright?"

Light heard L's exhausted voice from the other side of the door:

"I'm fine, just go back to sleep."

Light furrowed his brows. What was he doing there?

"Ryuzaki?"

"No, leave me alone", he answered. Now Light was absolutely sure something was wrong – L never asked him to leave. Especially when they had been chained to each other for the past two weeks.

Light opened the door. He saw L on his knees, bending over the toilet. The detective's thin body was shivering. The black-haired man raised his head and leaned back against the wall. Light sighed and seated next to him. The brown-haired young man raised his hand to L's forehead – it was burning up.

"You have a fever. No working tomorrow, Ryuzaki." L blinked his big, gray eyes. "It's alright, this is just a cold, I'm sure it'll pass if I take some medicine."

Light rolled his eyes. "You'll do what you want of course, but I still think you should rest."

L started pushing himself up – the detective almost lost his balance and Light grabbed his arm to support his friend.

After a while Light found some fever-lowering medicine in the bathroom closet. He filled a glass with water before giving the pills to L.

"Thank you", L murmured and took a sip of water before swallowing the pills.

"Come back to bed and try to get some sleep, okay?"

L nodded and they both walked back into their warm beds. The black-haired man grabbed the chain from Light's hand and handcuffed himself in the other end. After that he went to his own bed. Light's and L's beds were about ten centimeters away from each other, and the chain was two meters long so they had plenty of room to sleep.

"Good night, Light-kun", L said and curled up under his blankets.

"Night, Ryuzaki. You can wake me up if you need anything", Light answered before laying his head on the pillow again.

. . . . . .

Light's alarm got off at seven a.m. and the brown-haired boy turned it off within seconds. He sighed against his pillow and forced his eyes open. L was staring at him from his own bed, clearly impatient.

"Remove the shackle, Ryuzaki, I'm going to go and take a shower", Light murmured.

"Sure", L answered and unlocked Light's handcuff. Then the teen got up and stretched himself.

Light took a shower, dressed up and made himself a sandwich. After that he was ready for another day of tracking down Kira.

L put the handcuff back on as soon as Light was ready, and the two boys walked down the stairs.

"Feeling better, Ryuzaki?" Light asked, remembering last night's incident.

"Never better, thanks for asking", was L's response. Well of course. Even if he was feeling ill he'd never show it.

. . . . . .

It was about midday. Everybody had already arrived to the Task Force, and L had seemed absolutely fine all morning, but now Light started noticing some worrying signs – the world's greatest detective didn't look like he was feeling fine anymore. His skin was white as milk and the black bags under his eyes were even darker than usual. Also Light noticed he had started shaking.

The fever must be coming back… I told him he should've stayed in bed!

Light motioned Matsuda to come closer. The black-haired man walked closer.

"Yes, Light?"

"Could you get a blanket for Ryuzaki? And maybe a glass of water? He is sick." Matsuda's brows jumped higher and he looked at L with concern in his eyes.

"Of course."

Matsuda almost ran to grant Light's wish. "Thanks", L whispered to Light. The teen nodded and got back to his work.

Matsuda came back quickly. L looked thankful as Matsuda wrapped the blanket around his slim shoulders.

"There you go, Ryuzaki", Matsuda smiled and gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"You're very kind to me. Thank you", L said and took a sip of water. There was some candy and strawberry cake on the table, but they remained untouched. Loss of appetite was something that was extremely rare for L – he ate cake and other unhealthy food every day. This made Light definitely sure he was sick.

"You should go back to bed, Ryuzaki", Light said quitly. "Get some rest. They'll manage."

L shook his head. "I'm sure you would, but I want to be here. If my state gets too bad I will tell you. Also, if I leave, then so will you."

Light nodded and turned back at his computer. He was investigating Yotsuba's files. The Yotsuba Company was the center of the recent Kira murders and somewhere there, in the thousands of files, could be the answer to solving this case.

"Is Ryuzaki sick?" Aizawa asked walking closer and putting down a cup of coffee next to L. Light nodded.

"Yes he is, he just doesn't want to admit it."

"You know, if you aren't going to eat the cake then you should at least drink some coffee to function."

L stared at the coffee cup and after a while he nodded. "Thank you, Aizawa. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem. But in my opinion, you should go and rest. It's not good for you to stay up when being sick."

. . . . . .

By 3 p.m. L had already taken another dose of medicine, but they weren't so effective this time. The detective looked exhausted and his judgement seemed a bit clouded. Light noticed him shivering, though he was wrapped up in the blanket. Also, L had suffered a couple of violent fits of cough.

"Go to bed, Ryuzaki", Light said. The messy-haired man shook his head stubbornly. Light bent closer to L and lowered his voice.

"Ryuzaki – if you don't rest, your sickness only gets worse. Please, listen to me, I can't just watch you do this to yourself", he persuaded. L gave out a sigh – but was interrupted by a sudden fit of cough. As soon as it was over he nodded.

"Perhaps you're right… I'll go and sleep a few hours and I should be able to function again."

Light shook his head with frustration. "No, L. You are not a machine, you are a human-being and you need to let your body rest and recover."

L didn't say anything, but he got up from the chair, still not giving up the blanket. "We'll be back in few hours. If you find anything interesting, we'll be right few floors higher", Ryuzaki said to others. Light's father and Aizawa looked at each other. Light knew them – they would never disturb L right now for almost anything. The case could wait.

L had to stop in stairs once to catch his breath. Light started feeling more and more concerned for his friend. They made it to their room, and L immediately fell on his bed. Why do you have to be so damn stubborn? Why can't you just take care of your body for once?

"Ryuzaki. How bad is it really?" Light asked while seating on his own bed. L opened his big, grey eyes half-open.

"It's pretty bad", he whispered weakly. "My lungs are burning up…"

"The stairs can't be good for you. Please stay here until you get better, Ryuzaki."

"But Light-kun..." L turned his head and looked at him "you're going to have to stay here too", he said and waved his cuffed hand, rattling the chain loudly.

Light sighed. "It's alright. I'll just ask someone to bring my laptop here."

"It would be so much easier you know… if I just took some medicine and we could get back to work."

"You won't function with just medicine, Ryuzaki. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday. You have trouble breathing. You have to consider the fact that you may have to go and see a doctor."

L shook his head immediately. "No doctors. I'll be fine."

Light narrowed his eyes. "Watari is in Australia you know. He's not coming back until next Monday. He will turn me into a potholder if anything happens to you."

L smirked. "Well maybe I'll just rest then… if it's so important."