PART TWO:

"YOMA YUTA"

Light gasped after he heard the news his father just told him, but urged him to continue. So many questions were already filling his mind and he wanted answers as quickly as possible.

He felt shocked that he had nearly been the victim of a serial killer when he was a child and never knew about it, or had decided to forget about it because it was so traumatic.

But if he wanted to be a police officer like his father, then he was going to have to learn to deal with situations like this, even if they were his own. He couldn't let them faze him or change him. It came with the profession.

"Go on, Dad," Light said.

"You were recused by the collective efforts of the NPA and our best SAT team," his father explained. "The Knight's Templar, they called themselves, after a quick operation. After Jasper Yuta's father was captured, the media's nickname for him: The Child Butcher of Japan was headline news and the NPA received the highest praise, which, incidentally, granted me a promotion, because I was involved in the case. They tried to tell me to leave it alone. But I had to get involved. I had to see you rescued alive, Light."

"I understand Dad, thank you." Light was even more shocked now. And he saw that L stared at him as if to evaluate his emotions. "This is upsetting that I had no knowledge of this until now, but seeing how disturbing it was, you were right not to tell me."

"You were taken from our townhouse and were missing for three days, until we got a clue that you may have been spotted in the warehouse district by a homeless man who just happened to hear a radio bulletin on a newscast the night before, as he passed some workers. He said he had seen a child with your description walking with an older man in the area days before." Soichiro Yagami seemed to breath a sense of relief relaying this story, as if bottling it up had been a heavy weight on his shoulders. "When you were rescued, your mother and I made a decision to move away from the area after I received my promotion, and we moved into a more spacious townhouse with my new salary. Over time, we hoped to put that horrific incident behind us."

L mused in his crouched position in his chair, then he rotated it to a computer and began to type furiously. He pressed a button and information, a dossier, came up on the larger wall monitor for all to view. The rest of the task force gathered around L's chair to read the profile of Yoma Yuta, Jasper's father. "As L, I have access to information no one else does," Ryuzaki said. "According to this, after Jasper's father was captured and sentenced, he was taken a maximum security institution for the mentally ill."

L read the rest to them. Then he got to Jasper Yuta.

L read the highlights: "Jasper Yuta: an American born citizen, half Japanese on his mother's side. He moved to Japan with his father, leaving his mother, after there were several instances involving domestic impropriety. Other issues were documented including sexual harassment against other women and even child abuse. In additional to physical violence against others, he was arrested for other offences. Oddly enough he was never charged for anything. But the American justice system does work differently. When I worked in Los Angeles on the BB Murder file, I had to jump through so much red tape to even get a warrant, I almost lost it. I almost didn't get the case solved. The Americans can be so frustrating sometimes. Suffice to say, Yoma Yuta slipped through the justice system and was allowed to reside in Japan. Jasper Yuta was only eight years old when he and his father immigrated to Japan."

"Wow," Light said out loud. L looked at him. "Sorry, I sped-read through the dossier. I was reading the list of charges Jasper Yuta has. He's basically a carbon copy of his father in certain regards. His rap sheet is a mile long filled with offences that occurred mostly inside a child mental institution for the criminally insane, namely attacking other residents, highly aggressive behaviour, obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to watching Japanese anime, and physical, even sexual assault."

"Come to think of it, I think I remember this case—or reading about it. I was much younger at the time, before I was known as the world's greatest detective." L smirked smugly. "According to his most recent records, he's currently in a maximum security mental institution like his father, but for young adults. He's the same age as you, Light—nineteen?"

Light nodded, then frowned. "Yes, and on the taxpayers money," he said disgruntled. "Forgive me, but we pay for these criminals to spend the rest of their lives in prisons erstwhile that money could be spent elsewhere like fixing are crumbling schools and other institutions, improving hospitals and even senior health care, even helping the infirm. It's not fair. Some people should just be—"

"Executed, like say, by…Kira? And be done with them?"

"That's not what I said, Ryuzaki."

"But that's what you were thinking, weren't you? And some people may agree with you. But that's not how the justice system works. Kira is an abnormality. And we still don't know how he kills. But Kira obviously isn't omnipresent or he would have already known about Jasper Yuta and had him killed so he would no longer be a threat to the public if ever he got out. Jasper Yuta according to his profile is a threat to society and is unredeemable. I'm surprised at you, Light. You're normally more collective then this."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Ryuzaki," Light said. "And people like Jasper Yuta should never see the light of day."

L looked at him curiously. "Is this a personal view?"

"After what I've learned, yes." Light clenched a fist at his side. "But, to remind you yet again, Ryuzaki, I am not Kira!"

L waved a hand, as if to relent the argument for the moment. "Okay, getting back to the Jasper Yuta issue." He pointed to something on the large monitor, after he scrolled down a couple of pages in the dossier. "It says here in this line—I can speed-read, too, Light—though not clarified, and yet after what we just heard from Mr. Yagami, this could refer to you, Light: 'Incident with an unnamed underaged boy—13 years of age—not related to father'. Mr. Yagami, can you clarify this for us? If possible?"

"When his father was sent to prison, Jasper was only ten," Siochiro Yagami began. "Jasper was sent to a mental institution because he showed signs of instability and psychotic behaviour like his father. He escaped one night and came after Light when Light was thirteen, blaming Light for his father's incarceration. He broke into our home and into Light's room and held a kitchen knife to Light's throat. Kira appeared on the scene two years ago and we learned Yoma Yuta took his own life in his cell during Kira's mass killing spree. Kira's MO is a heart attack, but we do know that Kira conducted tests to see if a person can be controlled before they died. We suspected at the time that Yoma Yuta may have been controlled and hung himself at Kira's behest. The minute I saw his name on the list of criminals Kira killed, I've kept tabs on his son ever since. Jasper Yuta is safely locked up."

"Ah yes, it does say that Jasper's father did kill himself in the file further down the page," L verified. "And a classic case of deflection. Blaming someone else for what happened to another just because they were involved. Go on."

"I don't remember that," Light said.

"He held a knife to your throat, Light," Soichiro now spoke to his son directly, "but you defused the situation. Remember those martial arts classes I had you take and claimed it was training in preparation for police foundation courses?" Light nodded. "Well, they were actually self-defence courses, just in case, heaven forbid what happened did happen, and Jasper came after you. Long story short, you used what you learned and incapacitated him. However, he managed to get in one last blow in before I pounced on him, he kicked you down. You bumped your head on your bed post which later we learned caused short term memory loss."

"That would explain things," Light said, "and why I don't remember any of this, or Jasper Yuta."

"I was hoping the memory loss would be permanent." His father signed. "But now, with this dream… Are you angry with me?"

"Why, Dad? Because you tried to protect me? No, never—you did what any parent would do to protect their child." Soichiro Yagami smiled. "I imagine, if I did remember, it would have haunted me for the rest of my life, and I wouldn't be the person I am today."

L snorted curiously. "The person you are today, that's interesting," he mused. "Oddly enough, past experiences do forge a person's future psyche, whether they realize it or not. I'm not saying one way or the other, but this may have something to do with your embattlement with criminal justice and why you are so hellbent on—dare I say it—catching Kira. Or being—"

Light stopped L before he finished the thought, giving him a nasty look.

"Okay," L ceased. "Let me put it another way. When you first came to the task force, before we jailed you for fifty days plus, you said something about the possibility of yourself suffering from a form of dissociative personality disorder, or a multiple personality, when it came to being Kira." He put up a hand up to halt Light from interrupting when he saw it coming. "Let me finish," he said, then continued. "Putting that into context, there is something to be said about projecting your need for justice in another form, as a different person, not unlike your own. However, most people who suffer from DPD, are not cognitive of their different personalities. Therefore, we have to conclude, and this is the part I don't like, because you claim you don't remember doing anything regarding Kira's acts, that you, Light are not Kira. If you were knowledgable of the murders, it would bet very difficult to mask Kira's personality—and you show no signs of psychopathic behaviour; some OCD, especially when it comes to your hair style, but not psychopathic."

Light nodded. "Now you believe me, Ryuzaki. Logic cannot lie. And what's wrong with my hair?"

"It's a little old fashion, don't you think? Unlike mine"

"Your hair looks like your stuck a fork into a wall socket," Light rebuked.

"Anyway, I agree with you about Kira, to a certain extent. But people can lie. If Kira's powers can be transferred somehow, and all memories erased, to save for later and to acquire later after things have calmed down, then this could explain why your memories are gone of all events regarding Kira's killings."

Light frowned and gave Ryuzaki another nasty look. "Do you want another punch in the mouth, Ryuzaki? Because I swear…"

"It's too bad you refuse to be hypnotized, it would clear so many things."

Light jumped out of his chair, but his father caught him in time before he reached L. He struggled against his father's grip, but eventually Light relented and then dropped back into his chair, huffed, crossed his arms, and rotated his chair back to a desk laptop.

"You need to control that temper, Light," L said. "One day it will be your undoing."

"I don't need to be psychoanalyzed by you, Ryuzaki," Light replied curtly. "Let's just get back to the Kira Case and worry about Jasper Yuta later. His file says he's locked up in a maximum security institution. So, there's no sense worrying about him. Let him rot in there. I, frankly, don't give a damn about him. What I want most is to clear my name in being regarded as a mass murder myself."

L could sense Light's frustration. "And let's all pray for that, Light," he said. "Because you'll make a great detective someday."

To be continued...