A.N: Wow... my concentration is shot right now. Lol. This is what happens when you try to upload a chapter and watch "Step-Brothers" at the same time. "Boat's and Ho's", y'all! XD I think I just snorted. I am such a dork. ^.^ Though now I've moved onto "Bangkok Dangerous", so that shows you just how random my movie viewing is. Lol. Sorry for the long wait, by the way. I've had a lot to do around here (and not much time or inspiration to spare, really... -.-;), so hopefully next chapter doesn't take as long to write. Hopefully. ((Sweat drop))
A lot of you guessed correctly in your reviews, and a lot of others not so much. I guess I'll just have to wait until the plot of the story becomes just a bit more obvious until the 'secret' (Double snort) is revealed. I'm such a tease. XD
Many thank-you's and random one-liners (which are oh-so-hilarious, of course) to Kitsune55 for beta-ing (and the add-in's, as well!) this chapter for me by the way! She gets a gold star! (Shiny...)
Disclaimer: I forgot to mention last chapter (silly, silly me, really), but I don't own Death Note... biatch.
Title: One Last Goodnight
Chapter One: Falling Right Side Up
"Dad, c'mon!"
Raito nearly tumbled over his head as his father skid to a stop, standing in front of him so that his vision was virtually obscured. Large brown eyes hiding behind clear glass mirrors shone brilliantly against the dying afternoon light bursting in a myriad of watercolors as the grin on his father's face made the teen take a step back in fear.
"Close your eyes, Raito." Soichirou grinned as he began tugging on his son's hand once more, eyes widening even further in unprecedented excitement. The 17-year-old almost pinched the man bouncing up in down in front of him, finding the emotion so overwhelming in the usually reserved and tight-lipped person that had raised Raito from birth.
"Are you… ok, dad?" Raito blinked as Soichirou rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I mean, you haven't killed someone in some ravenous rage and expect me to help you dig a place for the body, right? Cause I just cleaned my nails, and I totally don't do shovels-"
"Raito, are you going to close your eyes or not?!"
Raito quirked up an eyebrow as both cinnamon-brown orbs continued to stay open.
"Fine then… But feast your eyes, my wonderful and only son… on this." With that, Soichirou gave one final tug asRaito once again almost tripped over his own two feet as his father clumsily pulled him forward, only to unveil-
"… … Oh… my…"
A brand new red convertible… with a large red bow on the hood.
Along with a giant card on top that said "Soichirou's brand new Pimp-Mobile".
"Huh… is this some kind of mid-life crisis I should know about?" Raito asked caustically as his father glared over at him, glasses giving off a glare from the angle of light coming off the lowering sun. "Does this mean I'm going to have to give you some 'cool' new nickname like 'Slim Jim' or 'Slick Rick' and hope to God you don't embarrass me at school? Because I'm not cool with that. Not one bit."
"NO!" Soichirou smacked his son over his head, making the boy finally fall head first into the ground, glaring up at his eye-twitching parent. "This… was a present."
"… … Do I want to ask what you did to get said present?"
"Raito," Soichirou nearly kicked his son over the head as the brunette brushed himself off, wondering just what the hell had gotten into his father and if it was contagious. "Are you going to let me speak, or are you going to continue in your pursuit of making me want to flip you over your own head with my awesome military skills."
"… … Should I just stop with the smart ass comments?"
"Yes."
"Fine." Raito smiled as politely as he could (which wasn't all that much since he was still cranky from before), inwardly smirking in delight as his father's eye began to twitch even more readily than before. "Who gave you such a magnificent, and might I add, pimp-ish present, dad?"
"Isn't it, though?"
"Dad. Just answer the stupid question."
"Well… Do you remember how I was telling you that I was up for promotion during my company's newest intake in clientele?"
"Yeah, you were working night and day on those damn projects, so they better have paid… attention… wait." Raito's eyes almost fell out of their sockets as he turned and grabbed his father's arm, the smile on his face softening in response. "You don't mean-"
"You," Soichirou puffed out his proverbial feathers as he sniffed in pride. "Are looking at the new Accounting Director of the greatest Finance Department of all time, my dearest and most precious of sons."
"You do realize I'm your only son, right?" The brunette rolled his burnt amber eyes as Soichirou clipped him over the head again, laughingly watching in amazement as his son ducked in barely a second's time.
"Raito, are you going to cherish this moment with me or not?"
"That depends," Raito laughed as well as his father attempted to ruffle his hair endearingly, willing to take the treatment for the time being. "Am I going to be able to take a spin in our new 'Pimp-Mobile'?"
"Raito! Only I am allowed to drive in the Pimp-Mobile!" At his son's cute (if clearly fake) pout, Soichirou placed an index finger on his chin as he paused in faux-thought. "However… I suppose riding shotgun would be acceptable, if your supposed 'coolness' allows it of course."
"… … Uh…"
Soichirou glowered at the boy as he sweat dropped, clearly not wanting to get into the car with him.
"Raito."
"Yeah dad?"
"Just shut up and get in the damn Pimp-Mobile."
"Of course daddy-dearest."
For anyone else, nights were just a passing daze.
Not many people enjoyed the tranquility the night had to offer, or the lasting oblivion the darkness and moon-lit sky exuded as the afternoon rays of light died off only to leave the beginning strays of twilight.
Raito refused to remain oblivious to such beauty when presented to him.
Smiling to himself, the teen turned off his light as he opened the curtains of his window and drenched himself within the beautiful sparkles of blistering stars and large radiant moon which to this day had yet to fail him with its projected light. Grabbing his book, the boy sat by the windowsill and cracked open the aging leather-bound journal and began to read the words as they were, delighting in each passing moment.
My dearest and most beautiful burst of sunshine,
Today was a wonderful day indeed.
Your father finally figured out just how to use the invention we like to call the 'Stove' (Really, the man has no cooking skills whatsoever. (NEVER. ACTUALLY. LET. HIM. NEAR. A. STOVE! IT IS BOTH POTENTIALLY HARMFUL TO BOTH YOURSELF AND YOUR FATHER, RAITO! PLEASE!) Of course, all he did was boil water, but that's a… step in the right direction?
Let's just say it is and leave it at that.
You actually said your first word today! Well… it sounded more like 'moopie' instead of 'cookie', but that's not the point! You pointed at a cookie and said it, and I UNDERSTOOD WHAT YOU MEANT! So you said your first word, darn it. And stop laughing at me. I know I'm silly. And psychic. And gorgeous. The full package, really.
But I digress.
Just preparing you for what your genes have in store for you, my dear.
Your father completely disagrees with me, though. Says that it doesn't count if you don't say it correctly. What the heck does he know, anyway? Man can't even work a stove without burning a house down. You said it. End of story.
I figure he calmed himself by boiling the water and giving himself a cheer of encouragement after I told him off and made you call him a moopie just for yukes. I'm pretty sure you gave him the same look I was giving him after doing so, but I can't be too sure. Funny either way.
But that's not the point. The point is, we had another great day, just you and I… and quite possibly your father with his boiling water. How many more of these we'll have, I don't know. Yet I try not to count the minutes and days too carefully. I'm just happy for every moment we have together, my little ray of light. Right now, you're sleeping in your cradle looking as peaceful as ever, though it warms my heart to think of you much older than now, reading my words with something I hope akin to affection.
Who knows how long we'll have left with these passing days of sunshine, Raito, but cherish them. Cherish them, and hold them close always.
As long as you do that, I can promise you this; I won't waste a single minute of our time spent together as well.
But alas, this shall be another sweet goodnight to add to the rest I have already given to you, as I hear your father grumbling about something or another in an attempt to wake you up so that he can play (bother, really) with you. Sometimes, I wonder about your dear daddy and his immaturity issues. Watch out for him, ok? Ok. At least we see eye-to-eye, baby-dear.
Now, where was I? Oh yes… Sleep well, my darling, and have many lovely dreams my lovely flower of the night.
Until tomorrow… I love you, both now and always. Never forget that, above all else.
Goodnight.
Raito smiled as he marked the page and closed the journal, the warm midnight air cloaking him with its blanket of saccharine smells and dulcet melodies of the night. Reading his mother's words before each slumber always helped him sleep a bit easier, feeling her presence a bit more than if not having anything to remember her at all.
Tomorrow would be another day filled with text-books he had long since memorized and recite along with aging books filled to the brim with fantastical adventures bordering on ludicrous, but right at this moment in the dead of night, all he needed was a reminder of what he had once had.
A time where he had had something worth living for, even if sporadically.
A real family.
Hearing the echoing sounds of his father's footsteps outside his door, Raito opened his night table and pushed the dark leather-bound notebook inside the small drawer and stood up, the warmth inside his chest burning with renewed energy.
His mother would always be near and dear to his heart…
Whether he could actually remember her or not.
Pushing back the covers on his bed, Raito did not notice the dark figure on the sidewalk across from his house, standing underneath the street lamp waiting for the day they could finally be seen.
Cinnamon-brown eyes framed by dark bangs became blurred over with tears as they continued to stare into the same window, hoping with every ounce of still rushing blood running throughout their body that maybe, that day would be so very soon.
Similarly colored eyes closed as the teen snuggled within the bed's sheets, both only thinking one thing…
'Tomorrow is another day, after all…'
"Raito!"
The young teenage drama-king nearly slid over his own two feet and the concrete steps leading down the grassy path towards the street he was aiming for as his father chased him out of the door, paper bag in one hand whilst a cup of coffee was held in the other.
"You nearly forgot your lunch again!" Soichirou smiled as Raito literally snatched it out of his hands and gave him a quick wave before getting ready to turn around once again.
"ThanksDad,gottagoorelseI'llbelate,loveyou,bye!" The slur came out in a whirlwind of speech as Raito spun back around, his feet two steps ahead of his brain.
"You know you don't have to run, son?!" Raito's father smirked as the cringe could be seen all the way from where he was standing. "I could give you a ride in my Pimp-Mo-"
"NO! GOTTA GO! BYE!"
Watching his son speedily disappear from sight, the bespectacled father scratched the back of his head in confusion as Raito broke another world record in the great sport Soichirou liked to call 'The School Bus Dash'.
"Really…" Soichirou closed the door as he rolled his eyes. "Boy's just too much like his mother…"
"I can make it, I can make it, I can make it, I can make it-!"
Without meaning to, Raito turned his eyes to the sky just as he felt a dark shadow loom over his broad shoulder. Dark gray clouds began to rumble above him, completely overcoming the soft sky blue that had been floating above his head. Inadvertently feeling his long trim legs slow in speed, Raito blinked in wonderment just a blur of yellow sped past him in burst of speed that even put his own track to shame.
"SHIT!" The brunette student shouted before a torrent of rain seemed to fall out of the sky in bucket-loads, the weather apparently paying no heed to the weatherman whom had promised clear-freaking-skies and lots and lots of oh-so-wonderful sunshine!
Flicking pale brown bangs out of his now blurred vision, Raito chanced a glance over his shoulder.
'Come in late, or be embarrassed by father… come in late, or be embarrassed by father…'
What wonderful choices.
"You're late, Yagami-kun."
Raito sighed as he walked into the classroom, soaked to the bone. His teacher, a doughty older woman barely in her mid-forties quirked up an eyebrow at his slightly disheveled state, watching as water continued to pour down his lithe frame in rivulets as the young girls in his classroom giggled in glee.
Really…
Raito could already tell today was going to be a very, very, bad day.
"Sorry, sensei." The boy monotonously replied, bowing a bit before trudging over to his desk in the back. Hefting up his slightly soggy back-pack, Raito just thanked whatever deity there was to thank that his homework was still intact and his books not all that damaged.
There was really only so much Raito could take in one day, after all.
"Be prepared for an hour's detention after school, Yagami-kun." The teacher snapped as the bedraggled student sat down, wincing at the woman's stern tone and equally stoic demeanor "Now, can anyone tell me the answer to the first question on the board? Don't speak up all at once, everyone…"
A soft sigh escaped his lips as the bleary-eyed teen pulled out his materials and sat them down on his desk, wondering if an education was even worth the pain he could already feel reverberating from his ass.
'Just think positive thoughts… positive thoughts…'
Raito looked down at his soggy notebook and squishy text-book as he sighed to himself once more.
'I hate my life.'
"Hey, Yagami-kun!"
Some nameless boy Raito didn't know (or cared to know, for that matter) waved over to him as a soccer ball rolled over towards his feet, bouncing harmlessly off his sneakers in a series of patters.
"Kick it over here!" The kid (Sai? Did it really matter?) waved once more, motioning towards his friends and the extremely muddy soccer field.
Figures the sun would come out now that school was over.
Some of the other students were still dressed in their uniforms, if only partially, whilst others were stripped of such clothing completely, preferring the freedom of simple gym shorts and tee-shirts. For some strange reason, each of them were staring at him, waiting for him to kick the stupid ball instead of going over and getting it themselves.
For some strange reason, it just made Raito so angry.
The picture of normalcy cut deeply within the usually reserved student as the other teenagers began to give him odd glances, wondering why he wasn't moving, why he seemed to be just staring at them as if they were the abnormal ones, why he wasn't even attempting to give them back the ball when they'd asked so politely.
It really just made the brunette's icy-exterior freeze all the more as his glare narrowed even further, a cold rage he seemed to always be suppressing catching him in its arctic grip once more.
He could never be a part of a scene like this, and he had to wonder why? What was it about him that separated him so drastically from the rest? Visually they looked the same. They all sounded the same. Hell, Raito was probably even sure that they all smelled the same (unless they didn't shower, in which case, ew) too. Yet…
There was something there he just could not explain.
Staring down at the soccer ball for a split second more, Raito shook his head as he turned on his heel and walked away, ignoring the groans and yells of discouragement from the other students as they ran over to the still ball sitting quietly on the slightly bumpy concrete sidewalk. As Raito walked along the same sidewalk, which led the way to one of the brunette's favorite sanctuaries, the boy only hoped that maybe just maybe today he would not be disturbed or disrupted once again.
'Finally…'
The smell of musky books and familiarity awoke a sense of comfort within Raito as he opened the pair of heavy clear-paned double doors, the library's gateway once again putting him back into his comfortable zone once more.
'Home, sweet home.'
"Yagami-kun!"
Turning to his right, Raito smiled brightly as the aging librarian whom seemed permanently attached to the desk set in front of him waved over towards him, the ominous door behind him shut like always with a small bright pink 'Do Not Disturb' sign hanging cutely on the top of the doorway.
Footsteps gliding in the other man's direction, the feisty brunette let his smile gradually become all the more warm and genuine as Watari let his hand slowly fall to the desk, his own still in his place as well.
"How are we doing today, Yagami-kun?" Watari whispered as he leaned forward, his arms now crossing themselves in front of his desk in a show of companionship as Raito re-shouldered his book-bag. "Another good day of school, of course?"
"I wish." Raito rolled his eyes as he walked around the small counter and grabbed another chair sitting on the far right corner of the grand hall and pushing it beside the older man's own seat. Dropping the heavy load off of his shoulders and onto the ground beside him, Raito grabbed a pen and shuffled some of the papers littering the librarian's desk in a show of routine that outshined just how well both man and boy knew each other. "Just another day of the same old thing, Watari. And really, how many times have I asked you to just call me 'Raito'? Say it with me, Ra…i… to… See? So easy!"
Laughing in amusement at the younger boy's grievance, Watari simply shook his head as the door behind him slowly opened a bit seemingly on its own accord without Raito actually noticing. "I apologize, Raito-kun. Though after years of the same golden routine, I suppose it is a rather difficult habit to break. Who would have thought that I've known you for more than half your life with the way you speak to me?"
"Yeah… but you realize that the fact that you've known me for so long is why I let it slide you know." Raito gave the old man a wink as Watari once again laughed jovially, always charmed by the pleasant, if sarcastic young man. "Jeez, is it just me, or do these stupid stacks of paperwork grow in buckets every time I leave and then come back?!"
"Ah, yes, I would somehow not doubt if that were true, my dear boy… All I can say is feel my pain, Raito-kun." Watari sighed as he re-adjusted his glasses, dark eyes narrowing in annoyance at the never-ending piles of useless information and resources along with files of files about different files which still needed to be filed… "Feel my pain… However, if Raito-kun would prefer to make it to his normal section and fill his imaginative-criteria, I would not be the slightest bit offended."
"I couldn't do that to you, Watari." Raito grinned as he pulled out another pile of paperwork and shifted it to the side to be filed, damn it. "Besides, two heads and two pairs of hands are always better than one, yes?"
Watari tilted his head to the side as he patted the boy on the shoulder in a parental fashion as Raito felt his face burned a light cotton-candy pink, his cheeks now resembling two florescent-red light bulbs twinkling in the dark. "You are a good boy, Raito-kun. Most definitely a good boy…"
"What am I, a dog?!" Raito laughed as he picked up a pen and twirled it effortlessly with his fingers, eyes alight with amusement. "Let's just get to work, Watari."
Without Raito noticing, the door behind them gently creaked shut, a set of pale fingers gripping at the edges of the plying wood until the darkness was shut out once again, the echoing sound of smooth laughter tinkering in Watari's ears as the smile on his face, which was the only sign of his amusement, grew all the more.
"Of course, Raito…"
"Sarcastic, much?"
"Oh, we both know that this is the least of my potential sarcasm."
"Touché, Watari. Touché…"
"Raito?"
"Huh…" Raito felt himself blink wearily as a random piece of blank computer paper stuck to the side of his face, his head still cradled within his arms as Watari gazed down at him in merry amusement.
"It's closing time." The old man chuckled as Raito groaned in discomfort, eyes itching with water as he rubbed them in an attempt to wipe away the last vestiges of sleep from his mocha-brown orbs. "Do you want to pick a book quickly before we close? Considering you helped me with all of this before you became comatose, I think it is the least I can do."
"Oh, thanks, Watari!" The sleepy adolescent immediately perked up as the words 'pick' 'book' and 'close' entered his ears, jumping up with new found vitality. "Just give me five minutes!"
Watari sighed as the 17-year-old avid reader bounce off of his seat as if he hadn't spent the last hour napping like a five-year-old and ran towards his normal reading section, the sound of the door quietly opening behind him barely making him blink in surprise.
"Will you be escorting young Raito home once again?"
"… … Is that a problem?"
"No." Watari smiled as he peeked over his shoulder, the familiar mop of dark locks and pale skin a stark contrast to the warm brown wood of the door the man was now leaning against, his thumb once again capture between his teeth in a look of faux-innocence. "I suppose I appreciate the concern of his safety… though I'm sure if you spoke to him, he would feel very much inclined to-"
"You know why I can't do that, Watari." The man whispered as he smoothly glided out of the library, his pale white tee-shirt and ragged jeans hanging off his lithe frame in a bunched fashion. "I will be waiting outside. Simply signal when he is done, and I shall take it from there."
Watari sighed once again (this exhalation more out of frustration than amusement) as he waited for the other's unknowing charge, wondering just when the other dark-haired vigilante would let go of the charade.
"Poor, poor Raito…"
Clutching the small book to his chest, Raito grinned over at the man standing at the doorway waving.
"Be careful, Raito! I wouldn't want my favorite reader to be on tomorrow's news!"
"I'm sure!"
Grinning at the lack of honorific attached to his name, ('Finally!' the boy thought to himself) a thin tanned hand made its way upward as the golden child waved back at the old man as he closed the door. Molten amber eyes softened as the hand slowly inched its way downward, the book still lying close to his chest wavering as the teen felt the cool night air crawl against his bare neck.
The dark sky shimmered down on the schoolboy as turned and made his way to the lit sidewalk, the stars dampening the milky obsidian of the night sky's mirage as Raito felt the nipping wind against the back of his neck fan out until it draped his entire body. The thin brown coat falling on top of his broad shoulders and flatteringly rolling down to his tapered waist barely concealed the brunette's feeble skin from the dropping temperatures as the shivers began to rack his body without abandon.
'I hate the cold, I hate the cold, I hate the cold…'
Reaching the curb, Raito made the mistake of not looking both ways (which would most certainly eat at him later on, on those days where he would ask just why he was cursed with this insane psycho!) as he stepped onto the bumpy cement-coated street, head once again in the clouds…
And away from the pair of headlights just barely meters away from him.
"LOOK OUT!"
All Raito heard was the sound of a car swerving and car-tires squealing in rough misuse. But, instead of the punishing force of the approaching vehicle, Raito instead felt someone slam into his back, arms tightly winding around the boy's waist as two lithe forms outlined by the shadows of the night propelled them both to the other side of the street, out of harm's way.
Knowing that he had been just a few feet from danger, Raito turned his head up as his breath stilled within his throat. The book he had been holding now lying on the other side of the street lay in a disarray of damaged binding as crumpled pieces of now dirt-speckled paper fluttered in the breeze.
"Oh my…" Feeling his heart beat frantically within his chest, Raito clutched onto the person's pale (and cold... why was it so cold?) hand that held his own now that the arms had dropped from his waist as the other dirt-encased man brushed himself off with his other free appendage. "Thank you so much…"
A head full of raven-black locks shook as the rumpled-looking man sighed, his grip on the teen's hand tightening as the person within the car, the one that had almost taken Raito away from him, stepped out of the vehicle looking as bewildered as the pastel-skinned man himself felt.
'I am holding his hand… he is looking at me… I can smell him so close to me… I... I want to... I have to leave now.'
Yet before he could even take a step away from the still sitting figure lying on the empty street, a lean tanned hand pulled him forward, setting off a series of events neither would be able to explain later on.
And as Raito looked up into those pair of endless obsidian eyes, (And as L looked down at those beautiful chocolate-brown orbs, he knew without a doubt-) he was lost.
