Chapter 1
March 3rd, 2012
"Papa, where's Momma?" A small girl with slightly curled salt and pepper hair, two overly sized cat ears perched on her head, with big, soft green eyes asked her father. She was gently tugging on the sleeve of his white t-shirt.
"She went out to play fight with Toshio and Ryuuhei, Selena," He told her, gathering her up in his arms. "You were sleeping, so Momma didn't want to wake you up."
Almost on cue, Selena yawned, leaning her head into his chest. "And Uncle Near went to America, right?" She asked in a small voice, smiling cutely when her father wordlessly offered her a toffee.
"Yes, he is going to help all of solve that case I was working on with your mother," He said, petting her hair. She's only this quiet when she wakes up…
"The one with that horrible thing, Kira," she said with all the spit fiery anger her mother had at the age. Luckily for him, she preferred to only use it when speaking of the murderer that had "killed" him.
"Selena, Momma says to come outside already." A little boy said, appearing at the door. He had his long-ish hair in the same style as his father, black as pitch with a faint blue tint and the same gun metal gray eyes as his father. Fluffy ears were perched on his head, a tail swinging behind him, just like his sister.
Selena looked up at her father curiously, "Can I go, papa?"
"Sure, sweetie, I have to finish this up anyhow." He told her, placing a small peck on her forehead. "Go help your brothers win against your momma."
"Okay papa, c'mon Toshio! Let's go!" Selena exclaimed, running over to her brother, a hyper little bouncing blur.
Lawliet smiled before sighing and turning back to his files. Four years since he "died" in the eye of the Task Force, sans Aizawa.
His children had turned four last month, the hyper and bouncy stage at which they would test their parents.
This was why Lawliet had frowned at Kat when she had told him her part in the scheme they had against Kira.
He couldn't really blame her though.
When he woke up that day four years ago, he had seen what shambles he had left her in.
Those barely visible bags under her eyes were stained an inky black from lack of sleep, her eyes were dulled and he knew he saw more silver in her hair than usual. To be concise, she looked like death.
After that, when he got to the point in which he had enough energy to actually complain about the non-sugary food they were giving him (which caused him to gain a good ten pounds, bringing his weight to a more healthy range), she started to revert back to her old self.
But she wasn't truly debating with him over cinematic actions until he was able to fix up his Capoeira.
Then the triplets were born one month premature, which was to be expected with the circumstances. What with the mother being a feline-human hybrid and giving birth to a set of multiples…to quote Kat during her "reality American television" stage; "Ne, might as well have signed us up for one of those things, right?" (To which Mello replied, "Not even if Kira weren't after your hide, sis.")
It was fairly hectic and fast after that. They were half way out of their minds, running around, barely able to drink their daily dosage of coffee before one of them would start crying for some reason or another. Which was why they were beyond grateful when Matt, Mello and Near came over to help from time to time, giving both Kat and Lawliet a chance to take a breather and have some time alone.
Once the kids got to the age of one, they began talking. Well, in Selena's case, she would crawl in her mother's lap and babble and babble—and babble, in confident sort of way. Of course, no one understood whatever she tried to say. Toshio took his time in speaking, and when he did, it would be because he had snuck over to his parents to taste whatever sweet they were eating. Ryuuhei, of course, took more to his mother's "no non-sense" persona…otherwise known as K with a bit of Kew shown through out.
Mrs. Clarke was kind enough to drop by some days; she even attempted to teach Kat how to cook. (Which, needless to say, ended terribly; the kitchen remained unusable for weeks. Thereby forcing the family to move in to the Orphanage until her mess could be fixed… which of course meant renovating the entire kitchen.) The kids took to calling her Auntie Bell, since her given name was Annabelle.
The terrible twos drove everyone up the wall. Selena and Ryuuhei were put in "time out" (Which was just putting them on opposite sides of the room, facing a wall forbidden to move lest they wanted no desert). Toshio would just usually watch silently from behind his father's legs before going off to play with one of the many toys in their playroom.
And that was when Mello came to Kat with his sketchy plan. She had ironed out the sketchier points as best she could before nodding and sending him off, not without a couple of mothering hugs on her part and some awkward pats on the back from Mello.
Lawliet brought his thumb to his lips, biting on it relatively hard.
Near was due to leave tomorrow, Kat was leaving too but to a completely different area.
The fact that Kat had been restless for all of four years was nothing new to Lawliet. Her energy was pent up and she had to make all of the missions she went on relatively safe and had to make a conscious effort to avoid injury so as not to traumatize the children.
Even if the children were aware of the jobs their parents held, and had substantial intelligence quotients (possibly higher than their parents' were at their age), they were still children. They did not have that dark cloud over their shoulders, that sense of death present in their young lives. And if either of their parents had a say in it, they would never experience it.
Both of them were making a giant effort to expel any chance of them dying, but that was completely unattainable what with the Kira case still unsolved.
K made a point of yelling it out every time they went about discussing whether or not each case or mission they were about to take on was too life endangering or too risky.
But with Kat getting so antsy and testy, well, in laymen's terms, she needed some sort of outlet. Thus, she decided to go join Mello in the Mafia under her underworld Alias "Eve."
"Ryuuhei, Toshio, Selena, come in already, you guys need to go take your nap!" He heard Kat's voice, ringing through the hallway. He tilted his head, listening.
That was something else he found puzzling. Apparently, that serum that she had given to Mr. Wammy and him self so many years ago had some side effects.
Nothing detrimental or incapacitating of course, she would have wringed all of the scientists' necks if that were the case. He just got to keep his enhanced senses, keeping him on the same level of awareness as the rest of his family.
He chuckled at the thought of his family.
He was the odd one out, without the ears of a tail, and round pupils instead of the slit ones of his wife and children. The kids asked him about it once and Kat had just jumped in saying that Lawliet was just the "special" one in the house. ("So, you can't use your claws with you play fight with him, Ryuuhei," She said, giving their son a pointed look.)
But he was fine with that; he was still able to keep up with his children's rough housing.
"And what are you smiling about, Lawliet?"
He turned his head around. "Nothing, are they asleep?"
Kat nodded, perching herself next to him, putting her arms in between her legs, steadying herself with her hands. "They are. I gave them some warm milk, works like a drug to them." She said in her silent way, smiling at Lawliet.
And he still couldn't get used to that. In the past, her smiles were rare, especially the genuine ones.
"And you are set to leave tomorrow, have you told the children?" He asked, pulling her over to him gently, laying his arm over her shoulders.
Kat sighed, "No, I was going to wait after dinner so that they would be too drowsy to put up much of an argument." She pushed Lawliet's legs down, curling up in his lap, tucking her head under his chin. "We have cheeky children with a lack of insomnia, I am surprised."
"I am not. They take after their mother," Lawliet retorted, playing around with her hair, which had grown a little bit past her shoulders.
"I do not sleep that much," She murmured wryly, shoving him lightly.
"I disagree. You seemed to have slept more in the last five years than in the first twenty of our life," He refuted. "And are cats not supposed to sleep excessively."
"Che," She huffed. "Stereotypical insomniac."
"But you love me," He pointed out, examining a lock of silver hair.
"And you love me." She said simply, twisting around to give him a peck on the lips.
"Mmm, stating the obvious now, aren't we?" He teased, letting his hands slide to her waist, a glint in his eyes.
"Hm, I must have picked that habit up from my husband," She murmured, an identical glint in her eyes.
They leaned in and—
"MOM! SELENA DOESN'T SHUT UP!"
"MOMMA, RYUUHEI IS CALLING ME A MOTOR MOUTH, WHEN I CLEARLY AM NOT!"
"PAPA! I CAN'T SLEEP WITH THEM YELLING!"
Both of them sighed, untangling themselves. "It seems we have a fight to referee," Lawliet muttered disappointed, pulling Kat up to her feet.
"Yes. Now let's go before Ryuuhei tears up the pillows again, like last time…" She said, leaving the room in a jog.
-
Kat shook her head, trying to get her newly blood red hair to dry faster. "Momma, you look pretty! As pretty as a princess! Oh, you would look even more pretty with a tiara and a princess dress, like Snow White, and Ryuuhei could be the Grumpy dwarf because he's just a pessimist that way," Pessimist? Has she been rifling through my dictionaries again? "And Toshio could be the Bashful dwarf, since he's so silent and shy sometimes! And Papa could be the Prince and I could be the Prince and Snow White's fairy princess daughter!"
Kat smiled at her daughter. "Of course, Selena, you would make the cutest fairy princess." In another time, Kat would have wondered what the heck a fairy was and said tactlessly ask "who does not know snow is white?" But with a bubbly little girl, she had learned about all the Disney characters (but banished Elmo and Barney, since the children complained it was completely repetitive and obvious) and fairy tales and had purchased a good amount of books and costumes for little Selena.
"Come on, Selena," She said, picking up the little girl and balancing her on her hip. "Let's go see what your brothers and father are doing."
"Most likely playing Clue again. They never get tired of that game, you should know that, Momma," Selena told her.
"Right," Kat said, sighing. "I regret ever buying that game for them. They're obsessed."
"What does 'obsessed' mean?" Selena asked innocently.
"Obsessed: past tense of 'obsess.' It means to occupy somebody's thoughts constantly and exclusively."
"Oh, well then, Toshio, Ryuuhei and papa are obsessed with it."
Kat smiled, placing a kiss on Selena's forehead, smiling when her ears perked up.
"It was Miss Scarlet, in the Library, with the Rope," Toshio accused.
"You win, again, Toshio," Lawliet said just as both Selena and the red-haired Kat appeared at the door.
"Momma says you guys are obsess with this game," Selena said simply, dropping down from her mother's arms (giving Kat and Lawliet a start) and bounding over to her stuff animals in a corner of the room.
"But that insinuates that we play it every minute of every day, which we do not," Lawliet said simply.
"What does 'insinuate' mean?" Selena asked, picking out her favorite bunny rabbit from the neatly arranged pile. If a pile could be neatly arranged, that is.
"To imply something, Selena," Toshio said quickly before Ryuuhei could even attempt to throw some sort of insult her way.
"Che, stupid motor mouth," Ryuuhei mocked, turning his back on her.
"I'm not a motor mouth, dragon boy," she snapped.
"Right, and I'm Michael Jackson, moon girl," he said coolly.
"Guys, I don't think you should argue—"
"Stay out of this, toe boy!" They both insulted, simultaneously.
"No, both of you, time out. You know better than to insult each other," Lawliet said firmly. "No dessert tonight, either."
"B-But, papa, it was his fault!"
"No! It's your fault!"
"Enough, both of you, now march!" Kat said; one hand on her hip.
When both had filed out, Kat sighed, feeling sort of guilty. "And I was about to leave too, Toshio, come here; give your Momma a hug before she goes off with Uncle Mello." She said, squatting down, opening her arms.
-
Kat composed herself, making sure that her black wife beater was fine, running her hands over the zipper of her new parka as she her boots tapped on the linoleum floors the American Mafia headquarters.
She placed her thumbs in her pockets, a blank look appearing on her features as she came to a room with a bunch of muscled men, among them, another person wearing a black parka, almost identical to her own.
"Hello, Mello, nice to see you again," She said quite emotionlessly, paying no mind to the others in the room.
She received a nod from his before he took another bite of his chocolate bar with a dramatic flourish.
"And who are you, little lady?" Questioned the man nearest to her, eyeing her in a very risqué way.
"Eve, and if you don't stop looking at me like that, boy, you'll wake up tomorrow without your family jewels," She said dangerously before looking at the man she supposed was in charge. "By the look on your face, I can assume you know who I am."
The man gave a greasy grin. "Well, you know what they say about assume, it makes an ass out of you and me."
"Perhaps I worded that awkwardly. I'm Eve, Yakuza boss in Japan." She told him, her eyes never loosing their blankness. "I come offering my services."
"Well, then, by all means, serve," said another one.
"My threat still stands. I may be a woman, but I am not, by any means, a whore. By 'services,' I mean that I am willing to assist you in taking down Kira, since Mello here, is my apprentice."
"And how do we prove that you are who you say you are and aren't just pulling our legs?" The boss asked.
"Well, that is where you turn on your TV to WATA international news. I have something planned that should help prove my…ahem, worth."
