I walk down the long hallway of my one bedroom apartment. I open my refrigerator and sigh as I see that I am nearly out of groceries.
I've lived in Japan for almost a year now, right in the outskirts of Tokyo. It is not at all as I expected it to be.
I close the refrigerator door and I begin to undress as I walk back to my room to get some sleep. I pull my shirt off over my head and throw it behind me just as my door opens swiftly and near silently. I spin around and face a man in a long coat with a hat pulled down over his face.
"Leave now, or I'll call the police!" I threaten him as I try to find something that can be used at a weapon.
"I am not here to bring you harm," The man says to me. "I'm here on very important business, if you will please come with me."
I still cannot see his face, but his voice.. it sounds trustworthy, almost familiar. I follow him out of the apartment without even grabbing my shirt.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask the man as we drive down the strangely quite streets of Tokyo.
"You will find out when we get there." The man says to me. I look over at him. "It's very top secret business, I cannot tell you anything about what's going on until I get the 'okay'."
"Well who gives you the okay?" I ask him.
Suddenly the man's phone rings. He puts it on speaker.
"Watari, do you have her with you?" The voice on the other end asks.
"Yes, L." Watari answers. "We are five minutes away."
L.
When I first moved to Tokyo almost a year ago, a huge murder spree had just began. The killer who people jokingly named 'Kira' was killing criminals in ways without direct contact and no one understood anything that was going on. Only one person had the slightest idea, and they called him L.
"I'm going to meet L?" I ask Watari.
"Yes." He says back to me.
"Why?" I ask him again.
"He will talk to you about the circumstances." Watari tells me.
We drive on for another few minutes and then we get out at a large hotel.
"We're here." Watari says to himself. We walk inside and go inside an elevator. I notice that there are cameras everywhere.
"Tight security, huh?" I say to Watari, trying to make the awkwardness between us evaporate a little.
"You have no idea." He says back to me. After going up floors and floors we get out of the elevator and Watari starts down the hallway. I follow after him, then he stops in front of a door and opens it and walks inside.
I walk inside after him.
The room is full of men, a lot of old men. There is a man sitting on the couch that looks as if he's just twenty, which is fine, but the rest of them all look as if they are mid to late twenties, maybe even early thirties.
Watari takes off his hat and coat, he looks as if he's sixty.
"Thank you for bringing her here."
I look across the room and see the shaggy, black hair of someone with his face buried into a computer screen.
"Sit on the couch, please." The man at the computer desk says to me. I nod my head even though he cannot see me do so and I sit down on the couch next to the youngest looking man.
"Hi! I'm Matsuda!" The man says to me.
"You idiot, you're not supposed to tell her your name!" A man with an afro snaps at Matsuda. Matsuda trembles but I smile at him.
"I'm Alice, it's nice to meet you, Matsuda." I say to him. He smiles at me then I hear a chair squeak. I look across the room and see the man who was sitting at the computer stand up. He walks over to the couches, while slouching, and sits across from me, with his legs up against his body.
"You're L?" I say to him.
"Do you know why you're here?" He asks me without assuring my question.
"I left my house half naked, I didn't know I was coming here, so of course I don't know why I am here." I tell him.
Matsuda suddenly passes me his suit coat. I smile at him as I put it on.
"We are working on the Kira case, I'm positive you know that." L says to me.
"Yes, but that still makes no sense of why I am here." I say to him.
"We need brains." L tells me. "Trust me, I would rather not just invite people in, but.. it seems as if.."
"You're talking to the wrong person." I say to him. "I didn't move to Japan for school, I moved here because it's the last place on Earth where my parents would look for me, and because I found a really cheap, secluded apartment to rent."
"I see." L says to me. "So you are of use to me."
"I just told you I'm not smart!" I say to him. "I'm not even in high school, you're an adult. How much use can I be to you?"
"Oh, the ways..." L says to me as he pulls a cupcake from God knows where and starts to lick it. "And although I will be staying here for the investigation, I need a place to stay for a couple of weeks while this place gets worked on."
"What?!" I say to him.
"I knew you'd be charmed." He says back to me.
"No!" I snap at him. "I don't care how important you are to the investigation, you cannot just invite yourself over to my one bedroom home!"
"You wouldn't be interested in sleeping with me?" He says to me as he licks the frosting off of the cupcake.
I can feel my cheeks blush; I don't say anything to him. Matsuda looks at me, all of the men look at me. Suddenly the door opens and a tall boy with brown hair walks in followed by an older looking man.
"Who's she?" The boy asks L.
"My girlfriend." L says to him. The boy looks at me.
"You're name?" He asks me. Absolutely nothing about this boy feels right to me.
"Rowen." I say to him out of nowhere. The name forced itself out… I have no idea why. Matsuda and the others look at me but don't say anything. L smiles at me from across the table.
"What?" The boy asks him.
"Her name." L says to him. "It makes me smile every time I hear it." The boy rolls his eyes and looks back over at me.
"I'm Light." He tells me.
"Nice to meet you." I say to him as I shake his hand. He smiles at me, and leans in and whispers something only I can hear.
"Any day, any time, I'll give you a better ride than he ever will." He lets go of my hand and walks over to the computer desk. I look back at L who finishes shoving the cupcake in his mouth.
"Well, I think I'll go get settled in." L says as he stands up.
"Barefooted?" I ask him. He looks at me.
"Not outside." He tells me. He puts on some running shoes, without socks, and stands up.
"Let's go fool around." He tells me as he walks towards the door.
"I'll.. I'll wash your coat for you, Matsuda." I say as I turn towards him. He smiles at me and nods his head and I follow L out of the room.
"I thought you were into being all secretive, like not going out in public." I say to L as we ride in his all tinted-windows car back to my home.
"This is a special occasion, I'm moving in with my lover." He tells me as he puts a lollypop in his mouth.
"Yeah.." I say to him. "We're illegal."
"Only if you rat." He says to me. I smirk and look out the window.
We get back to my apartment and L stops me before I open the doors.
"Cameras?" He asks me.
"Only if you walk up to the front desk; there are no others." I tell him. He nods his head and we get out of the car, followed by Watari, who is carrying L's belongings. We get up to my room and Watari nods his head and leaves.
"Welcome home, I guess." I say as I open the door. I walk inside and L follows after me, and he sets his bags down and closes the door.
"Do you have any candy?" He asks me. I don't say anything to him. He takes this as my approval to snoop around and he walks into my kitchen and opens the fridge.
"It's empty."
"I know." I tell him. "I need to go to the store."
"I'll call Watari." L says to me. He pulls out a cell phone and pushes one button. "Watari, we need groceries."
"I will bring them by shortly." Watari says back to him. L hangs up and walks into the living room and sits down. I sit across from him and he smiles at me.
"You lied to Light." L says to me. I don't say anything back to him. "You gave him a name that is different from yours. Why?"
"I had a weird feeling about him." I say to him. L smiles at me.
"You are smart." He tells me.
"How?" I ask him.
"Light is my main suspect for being Kira." L tells me. "It was smart of you to not give out your name to someone who might be able to kill you."
I look at him.
"Why hasn't he been arrested?" I ask L.
"The man who walked in with him is his father, the chief of police. Besides, I don't have enough evidence." L tells me. I open my mouth to continue but there is a knock at the door. I walk over and open it and I see Watari surrounded by loads of bags filled with food.
"Thanks." I say to him. He nods his head and helps me bring the food inside.
After we load the food into the fridge Watari leaves and I walk back over to L who is sitting on the couch with his feet on the couch and his legs pressed against his body.
"Thanks for helping." I tell him. He looks at me and smiles.
"Wanna fool around?" He asks me.
"No." I tell him. "I'm going to go take a shower."
"Then I'll shower with you." L says to me as he stands up.
"No you won't." I say to him.
"You're already half naked." He tells me.
"Shut up. I'm going to bed then." I tell him. He runs over to my side.
"Then I'll go to bed with you." He says to me. "You're working on a murder case now, it will be best if I'm with you almost twenty-four seven." I stare at him.
"Fine." I tell him. I take off Matsuda's jacket and grab a long shirt and put it on and I take my pants off and walk over and crawl into my bed. L stands next to the bed and looks at me.
"I'm horny." He tells me.
"I'm thirteen, too bad!" I say to him. "You shouldn't be attracted to me! You've got like twelve years on me!" He smiles and takes off his shirt and I am grateful it's dark and L can't see me blush about his amazing body. He sets his shirt next to my pants and crawls into bed next to me. He snuggles close to me, he isn't smiling.
"What?" I ask him.
"Make me a midnight snack?"
"No!" I say to him. "I just got into bed."
"Fine, then you'll be my snack!" He says to me. He then jumps on top of me and starts kissing my neck. I start to laugh uncontrollably and I manage to pull away from him and grab my pillow and smack him with it. He blows his untidy hair out of his face and grabs me again and holds me close to him as he licks my neck.
"Stop it!" I say to him through laughs. I feel him shake his head and he grabs my stomach under my shirt and flips me around so I'm on top of him.
"Let's have some fun." He tells me.
"This is fun." I say back to him as I pull my face down in my shirt. He pushes his head up through the bottom of it and licks my tummy.
"Come on?" He says to me. His brown eyes start up at me and he smiles.
"No." I tell him. I pull away from him and get out of bed. "I guess I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight." I grab some blankets and walk out of the room and I lie down on the couch and go to sleep.