I apologize, before when I uploaded a chapter I was in a hurry and unable to introduce myself, hello, my name is justawriter97. I'm writing this story as I'm reading Death Note as though it is my first time doing so (I haven't read it in a while) so I am sorry if it is a bit shaky. I won't really be changing major bits for a while, just mixing things up a tad for fun. Please enjoy.
I do not own any of the characters in this story other than Asao.
Day 2: Gamble
I can't believe the old buzzard thought I was Kira! Asao slammed her fist against the door of the cab she'd taken home, imagining that it was really Watari's head. Does that make me a suspect now?!
Asao'd just finished an errand of the utmost importance pertaining to the purchasing of new identities from a friend at Mistery's Costume Shoppe just down the street from her apartment. While she was there she completely changed her appearance from what it was yesterday; back to the basics.
It's the first time in twenty years that I've seen this face. She stared into the eyes of the girl looking back at her in the rear view mirror of the cab and didn't recognize her at all. Her hair was black, shoulder length with bangs that ended just before her eyebrows began. No identifying marks on her face and her dark eyes were now unchanged by contacts, her skin color had not been altered and was as pale as the day she put on her first costume.
I guess that's part of the territory, eventually you forget what you look like. . .
When the cab stopped in front of her building Asao lugged her many bags of clothes up the stairs quickly and stowed them away in her closet. She chucked the old ones in the trash and sat down a moment to calm her nerves.
As soon as Watari gave her the chance to explain herself she'd made it clear that she was in fact not Kira but simply a childhood friend of L's. After hearing that he'd smiled and relaxed, almost seeming pleasantly surprised to hear that L had at least one friend even if Asao couldn't prove that it was the truth.
"It's wonderful that you've traveled this far Miss Momoki, but I'm sorry, L is not here." If Asao was that desperate perhaps she would have been fooled by the sad look on Watari's face when he told her.
"But you know where he is, you could let me see him." Her grip on Watari's sleeve tightened.
"You seem to want to see him quite a bit more than a friend would, why is that?" Asao knew immediately that he was asking her again whether or not she was Kira in a sort of roundabout detective-ish way. She let go of his coat.
"Mister Wammy –"
"Call me Watari, please." He interrupted.
"Mister Watari, I haven't seen a familiar face in twenty years, it was so long ago that I've seen a friend I've started to question whether or not they were real and if I ever really had a family to begin with. I want to – no – need to see him in order to be sure of myself, to be sure that once I did have a proper family, a real life. I need to know he's real to be sure that I'm a real person under this costume, so please, will you take me to see him?"
For a moment Watari's face softened and Asao was sure she'd struck a chord in his heart, hopefully the right one when he turned abruptly and walked away.
"No."
Asao was stunned. Most people fell for her sob stories, the ones she made up were genius but this one was real and the most unpleasant of them all. She chased after him, grabbing his sleeve again and yanking him back with all her might. She flinched away a bit, the look on his face let her know that all she'd done now was make him angry.
"I didn't want to have to do this, Mister Watari, but please take this bargaining chip as both a way to get me past you and to clear myself of suspicions of being Kira. . . if you don't allow me to see L – the real L – in person I will sell his real name to the papers for everyone to see. Including Kira."
In an instant Watari was horrified and Asao felt terrible for shaking down an old man but both feelings passed as soon as they were felt.
"You don't know his name," Watari said with a haughty confidence, "he and I are the only people in this world who know that name."
Asao tensed, thinking quickly over what she was about to do. She opened her mouth, paused for a moment.
"Lawlei –" Watari immediately slapped a hand over her mouth hard to keep the rest of the name from escaping her lips.
"Fine!" Watari hissed, "You may see L in his hotel room for as long as he will tolerate your presence on New Year's Day at one in the morning so long as you submit to a series of searches and metal detectors administered by me. You may not bring any sort of tools with which to write down what you see, all electronic devices will be left in your home. Do you understand?"
Asao nodded her head several times before Watari would remove his hand from her mouth. He grumbled under his breath for her to not be late.
"And Miss Momoki, keep that name to yourself." She nodded again and the two went their separate ways. Though intense the altercation had been so quiet that no one in the hall had noticed anything unusual in their behavior.
Asao stood up from her chair and crossed the room to her desk where a single picture frame sat. She picked it up, almost cradling it in her hands.
The photo was of two small children, one with shoulder length black hair and bangs that ended just before her eyebrows and the other peering absentmindedly at the camera through a mop of course black hair. Asao hadn't even noticed her mother take the picture since she was so busy building a sand castle while L, it seems, had nothing better to do than stare straight ahead.
She set the frame gently back where it was before taking a look at her watch. It was midnight and L's room was at the Imperial Hotel. It would take her an hour to get there in time. Asao quickly ripped the photo out of its frame and stuffed it in her pocket.
"If this doesn't convince them nothing will." She mumbled. She scurried across the room to the refrigerator where she finishes off a small plate of seasoned tofu before heading out.
Paused in the door Asao looked back over her shoulder at the room behind her, memorizing the place of everything. She shut the door with force and turned on the alarm before she crammed her hands in her pockets.
Finally got a lead.
