Here Lies Justice

Chapter II: Skirmish

- - -

"Light, wasn't that great?" Misa squealed. The blond pigtails framing her face flailed wildly as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. The lights in the theater had flickered back on as credits scrolled up the blackened screen.

"The characters were extremely shallow," L drawled, speaking before Light could voice his opinion. "Character development was minimal, the personalities were thinner than paper, and the plot was more clichéd than something out of a fairytale."

"Well, who asked you?" Misa huffed. "It's not like you had to come anyway. It's not like we want you here."

L cocked his head slightly to the side, gazing innocently at her, messy dark locks hanging in his left eye's line of vision as he gnawed his thumbnail. "Of course, Misa-san."

If only she knew what L had in store for her precious, darling Light.

"You liked it, didn't you, Light?" Misa turned her doe-eyes on him, brows arched up in earnest, bottom lip sticking out slightly.

"Of course, Misa." A hint of a smile played around the corners of Light's lips; L immediately dismissed it as fake. Just as Light couldn't stand L, the detective knew Misa was equally irritating to the boy. The only difference was that Light was extremely blunt in his resentment towards L.

"Yay!" Misa squealed, latching onto Light's arm, black painted nails keeping him in her viselike grip. She glanced over at L, who was cramming the last of his jelly beans into his mouth. "Do we have to go back? I wanna spend more time with Light!"

"Light-kun and I have work to do." L stood up, slouching as usual. "This case is serious; you're lucky I'm allowing you your alone time with Light-kun."

"I'd hardly call it alone time," Misa snorted indignantly, folding her arms over her chest. "Besides, Light shouldn't have to be put through the torture of being chained to you all the time—he wants his life back, you know. He's innocent, so why can't you just leave him alone?"

"As I have stated several times, I still suspect Light-kun." L shuffled out into the aisle, Light and Misa following closely behind.

"But—"

"It's fine, Misa," Light cut in. "I want to work with Ryuzaki to solve the Kira case. If proving my innocence means being chained to him like this, then so be it."

Misa settled into sulky silence, following L and the object of her obsession out of the theater.

- - -

"Light-kun." L, bathed in the glow of his computer screen, was squatting in his "40 percent reasoning ability increase" position, licking the spoon he was using to devour a half-gallon of chocolate ice cream directly from the container. "You once told me you would like to play tennis with me again."

The date with Misa had long since ended, and Light was exhausted. He nodded his affirmative, struggling to keep his drooping eyelids open. The hours were dragging themselves along and the night was merging slowly into morning; in addition, the time spent with Misa had also worn Light out considerably.

"So how about a rematch?" The rest of the investigation team had left the room a while ago, so just the two of them remained. L was browsing a Kira-worship site, skimming for any relevant information, while Light was looking into recent deaths on his laptop, positioned beside L.

"Ryuzaki, you know as well as I that a tennis match would be impossible under certain…" Light flicked his wrist, earning a jingle from the chain that bound them. "…circumstances. Unless you're saying you'll let me go?"

"No." The spoon was hanging sideways out of L's mouth, gleaming in the light cast by the screens. "But we will play tennis, Light-kun."

- - -

"Table tennis, Ryuzaki?" L had brought Light up to the eleventh floor, where a ping-pong table was located in a small, sparsely-furnished room. The white walls smelled of fresh paint; the investigation team had only recently moved into the brand new building that had been built at L's request.

"Yes."

L wiggled his toes into the light blue carpet, reaching for a paddle. To Light's surprise, instead of dangling it from between his thumb and forefinger, L grasped it as any normal person would.

"Are you going to just stand there, Light-kun? Didn't you say you wanted to play tennis with me?"

"Yes, but…that's not our top priority. Shouldn't we be working on the Kira case?"

L fiddled with the paddle, passing it from hand to hand. "We are working on the Kira case, Light-kun," he replied levelly.

"Ryuzaki!" Light grabbed L by the shoulders, shoving him forcefully against the pale wall. "How many times must I tell you—I'm not Kira!Someone out there is still killing people—you should be focusing on him instead of cross-examining me through stupid games!"

A smile tugged at the corner of L's mouth as he surveyed Light through his wide, dark eyes. "No need to get so defensive, Light-kun. We have no leads, tension is high, it's obvious that you need a small break. And besides, why shouldn't we be able to play a friendly game of table tennis?"

"At…" Light glanced at the watch adorning his wrist. "…one o'clock in the morning?"

"Isn't this what friends do?" L tilted his head to the side, gazing inquisitively at Light.

"At one o'clock in the morning?" Light repeated flatly.

"Disagreements will get us nowhere, Light-kun," L replied, jerking his wrist repeatedly to send annoying jingles down to Light's end of the chain binding them. "You are quite the intelligent observer. As you can see, we are joined at the wrists."

Light reluctantly released his grip on L's shoulders, crossing to the other side of the table. What choice did he have? Whatever L wanted, L usually got.

When both were positioned on opposite sides of the table, the chain was taut, extending across the side of the table from Light's left wrist to L's right. Freedom of movement was restricted but not abolished altogether.

"Play to eleven points," L declared, bouncing the white ball once, catching it deftly between his thumb and first finger. "You must win by a minimum of two points. The match will be determined by best four out of seven games."

L let the ball drop, watching it bounce once before striking it over the net.

No need to worry about my suspicions, Light-kun… Although it is advantageous if you believe that this 'friendly' ping-pong match is a personality analysis to contribute proof to your being Kira. All I have to do is keep you up late, drag out the hours, wear you out…

Light retaliated with a backhanded hit, sending the ball hurtling back to L's side. It struck the very corner of the table, bounced, and began to drop. As L lunged across, arm and racket extended, Light grasped the chain with both hands and pulled on it with all the strength he could muster, violently jerking L's wrist away from the ball.

Out of L's reach, the ball fell to the ground, fall cushioned by the carpet.

"A dirty trick, Light-kun." L rubbed his sore wrist, face expressionless. The skin around his wrist was marred with a faint pink line from where the handcuff had bitten into it.

Kira is childish and hates to lose…

"Your serve, Ryuzaki," Light responded innocently, making no apology for his underhanded move.

L bent down, picking up the ball, bouncing it once before sending it across to Light's side. Back and forth they went, eliciting jingles from their chains as they began to add intensity and speed to their hits.

The first step is to drag this game out as long as possible and dull his thinking process. We've already pulled a few all-nighters this week, and the date with Misa must have tired him out considerably.

Light stretched his arm out to reach one of L's stray hits, but was jerked back by the biting chain around his wrist. As the ball went out, Light narrowed his eyes at L, who had jerked sharply on the chain to prevent Light from reaching it. He had imitated the stunt Light had pulled before—blatant revenge.

"Once is once," the detective said with an innocent half-smile that didn't reach his ever-emotionless eyes.

Light's shoved his tiredness to the farthest possible corner of his mind as his "I must not lose" attitude kicked in. Jerking of the chain in order to prevent the opponent from being able to hit the ball was now the trademark move of the game, and soon both their wrists were throbbing. It was more a game of "let's see whose wrist snaps off first" rather than table tennis.

Even though Light was right-handed and the chain was attached to his left wrist, the force that L used to wrench Light away from hitting the ball was strong, greatly restricting Light's reach. L, however, was at more of a disadvantage; he was also right-handed, and the chain was linked to his right wrist. With every flick of his hand, little shocks of pain were triggered in his wrist, but a little pain in the name of Justice was definitely worth it, if he could succeed in proving Light to be Kira.

The ball sailed across to L's side, missing the table by a fraction of an inch and plummeting to the blue-carpeted floor.

As long as I'm careful, things should work out well, provided that Light responds to the drug in the expected way. The chances of something going wrong are under 50 percent...

There was always a chance of something going awry, but L had always been one for taking a gamble in the name of Justice.

The match continued on, each player unrelenting in his desire to win. At this point, L was topping Light, three games to two.

"If I win this game, you lose the match, Light-kun," L commented, delicately nibbling at his thumbnail.

"Don't count on it, Ryuzaki," Light returned, serving the ball with a smack of his racket. Back and forth again, the volleys continued. Inevitably, Light caught up to make the score three games to three.

The aftermath will also be unpleasant, assuming tonight is successful. However, it will all be worth it; I will dominate Kira and show him that Justice—true Justice, not his twisted definition—will always triumph over sick, twisted mass-murderers.

His methods may have been rather unconventional and he may have been overconfident, but L's projection of the likeliness of failure was less than 50 percent, which meant the whole ordeal was definitely worth a shot.

"Yes!" Around ten minutes of volleying later, Light declared his victory. He smirked as L swiped at the ball, missing it by a hair's breadth and drawing the match to a close. "Four games out of seven. I win, Ryuzaki."

You win? How ironic.

"You beat me…" L stated blankly, thumb wandering to his lips.

And you look tired, Light-kun. I think it's time to put things into motion.

He was still not quite sure of how Light would react if he could successfully pull off his plan, but L continued to convince himself that it was still worth a shot.

"I want a snack now. How about you, Light-kun?"

"Ryuzaki." Light was unable to keep his irritation at bay as he glanced impatiently at his watch. "It's almost two o'clock in the morning."

"But I don't remember having dinner."

Light's stomach betrayed him as it growled in agreement. He didn't know which was dominant at this point—hunger or sleepiness. Wearily, he trudged behind L as they descended the stairs, heading for the third-floor kitchen.

L headed straight for the fridge, shuffling around inside it for at least five minutes (Light was constantly glancing anxiously at his watch). To Light's silent frustration, when L finally straightened up into his usual slouch and closed the fridge, it was apparent that the detective had not taken out anything at all. Instead, he decided to shuffle over to the counter, grabbing a pink and blue striped box and plopping it down on the table. He flipped open the top, displaying a halfway-eaten vanilla cake, iced with pink and adorned with bright red strawberries.

L then rummaged in a drawer, returning with a knife and two plates. After cutting his own obnoxiously large slice of cake, he turned to the younger boy.

"Big or small piece, Light-kun?" he asked, eyes focused on the cake.

"Don't you have any real food?" Light asked, staring distastefully at the frosting-covered knife in L's hand. He already had anticipated L's "But this is food, Light-kun" and hastily added, "I mean…something non-sugary."

"Not today, Light-kun," L replied serenely. "Big or small piece?"

Defeated, Light slumped into the nearest chair. "Small."

L's definition of "small" and Light's definition of "small" were two entirely different "small"s. The piece of cake placed in front of Light was as wide as the distance across the palm of his hand.

Not quite Light's definition of "small."

L crossed the kitchen again, dragging the handcuffed Light along with him. He rummaged around in the fridge again, returning to the table with a can of whipped cream.

"Whipped cream, Light-kun?" L inquired innocently, spraying it all over his cake until the entire slice was coated in white.

"No, thanks." Light yawned, propping his elbow up on the table and resting his head in the open palm of his hand.

L snatched one of the strawberries off the top of Light's cake and placed it delicately at the peak of the whipped cream mountain on his own slice. "Coffee, tea, water, Light-kun?"

"Tea," Light replied, completely exhausted. He was hauled to his feet once again by the pulling of their metal binding. L trudged across the kitchen, began to boil the water, and started to rummage in the cabinets overhead, pulling an unwilling Light behind him.

Light stood beside the detective, swaying slightly, eyes half open. From behind drooped lids, he watched the water boil, watched L pour two cups…his eyelids drooped fractionally lower…he pressed a hand to the countertop to steady himself…

"Light-kun." L shook the chain obnoxiously, jerking Light back into partial-awareness. "It's not sleeping time yet. You haven't eaten."

"Since when do you care…" Light stifled a yawn. "…Ryuzaki?"

Completely ignoring the question, L shifted position so that Light's view of the cups of tea was obscured by the older man's back. The detective was fumbling with something; Light craned his neck, struggling to catch a glimpse of what L was doing. Light, though his senses were dulled by tiredness, was nonetheless able to catch a glimpse of L opening a small white packet and pouring its contents into one of the cups.

Light's mug, as it turned out. He had been watching carefully as L placed the drinks in front of their respective spots at the table.

You saw it, didn't you, Light-kun?

As if on cue, Light cleared his throat and announced, "Ryuzaki, you put something in my drink."

L's brow was knit in faux confusion. "I did not."

"Fine, then." Light smirked, grabbing both cups. "Switch drinks, then. You take mine."

"If you insist," L replied calmly, swapping the drinks and dumping a handful of sugar cubes into the cup he had traded with Light.

Exactly as planned… I knew you would request a switch, Light-kun.

"Careless, Ryuzaki," Light sipped his tea, a smirk still plastered on his face. "If you're going to try to poison my tea, you'll have to try harder."

L said nothing, stirring the mountain of sugar cubes around with his spoon. He replaced the spoon with a fork and began to attack his slice of cake.

You truly are a very mistrusting person, Light-kun. An innocent sugar packet was all I put into your drink—the drink I knew would eventually end up as mine. You're still wary as I had guessed, but not wary enough. You would never expect me to do anything to the tea I was supposed to drink. Had you been awake and at full awareness, you would notice that I agreed to witch drinks far too easily.

As for that tea I originally had—the tea that you are now sipping, well…

L speared the strawberry atop his whipped cream covered cake and shoved it into his mouth.

we'll just wait and find out.

"Hey, Ryuzaki…" They had been sitting in silence for at least fifteen minutes. Light had long since drained his tea. "I feel kind of weird… We should probably sleep soon…I think."

L resisted the urge to look up and continued to pick at the remaining cake crumbs on his plate. His eyes were alight with excitement, but his face betrayed nothing as he slowly raised his head, gazing at Light.

"But you haven't finished your cake, Light-kun." L reached across the table with his fork, slicing a piece off of Light's plate and placing it onto his own.

"Since when d'you care?"

An edge of panic embroidered his speech as Light realized he was beginning to slur his words.

Exactly as planned.

Now, let the interrogation begin.

"Ryu…zaki, you… What did you do to my drink?" Light rose to his feet, pressing both hands to the tabletop for balance.

"I switched our drinks on your request. Don't you remember, Light-kun?"

"Bastard… Ryuzaki, you…" Light stumbled over to L's side of the table, firmly grasping L's shoulders. "…drugged it…"

"I wasn't the one who demanded to switch the drinks…" L innocently stared up at Light's half-open eyes. "That was all your idea…Kira."

"Mm…not Kira…" Light mumbled, leaning in close to the detective's face, squinting as his vision blurred.

You'll be spilling everything soon, Light-kun. It'll only be a matter of time, since you drank it all.

Perfect. Exactly as planned.

"Hmm…" Light's eyes were squinted slightly as he closely examined L. "Damn… Ryuzaki… I never noticed, but…"

L tensed up as the look in Light's eyes drastically changed. The younger man's eyes were no longer half-open and dazed; there was a new, strange look in them that L didn't recognize. Excitement? No, not quite… But the next few words out of the brunette's mouth froze L's thought process immediately, before he could begin to decipher what Light's eyes were saying.

The corner of Light's mouth curled into a devilish smirk. "…since when did you start looking so…sexy?"

Wait…

what did he say?

- - -

A/N: Mmyeah, I reaaally wanted to make them play ping-pong.

Now that that's out of my system, I shall have much fun with drugged-up OOC Raito-kuuun… :D

Ohnoes, I sense…L RAPE. D:

Well, you know what they say, "you can't rape the willing," or, as one of my buddies likes to say, "it's not rape if you yell 'surprise!'" So yeah, much yaoiness shall ensue, but I'mma be a sadistic bitch and wait until the next chapter. Nyahah. :P