Thanks for waiting patiently for this chapter! There's an explanation at the bottom.
Chapter 3:
Nosebleed
Ukita strode from one white wall to the next in front of Claire. Her eyes followed him back and forth across the room, his feet padding softly. Every so often he would give a response to something L had said, followed by a 'yes sir' or 'no sir' in a clipped but respectful tone. Claire assumed L had that effect on people. She sure had more than a small share of respect for the peculiar man.
A rush of exhilaration spread through her body, causing her to shiver as she thought about what she'd say to him when they met for the first time. She only hoped she wouldn't be so starstruck as to forget how to speak.
It was strange to feel an attraction to an animated character, but Claire reasoned that it was no more strange than feeling an attraction to any other fictional character. Lots of people found characters attractive. Just look at all the girls that went mad over Edward Cullen.
Of course it didn't feel like they were animated, everything seemed to be in it's natural three-dimensions. Perhaps her mind had only come to perceive them as real... or maybe she, too, was also animated and just didn't know it. Squinting at her feet curiously, she wiggled her black-painted toes.
They looked real to her. In need of a manicure, but very real.
Like a dog after a bath, she tossed her head from side to side, trying stubbornly to get rid of the pink hat that was still sitting atop her head. She felt like Alice in wonderland or Dorothy in the land of Oz. She had to be a dreaming. That was really the only explanation she could come up with. After thinking of all possibilities, she was either dead and this was her strange version of after life, or she was really in a coma. The only thing that she couldn't get over was the fact that everything was just so damn realistic.
The hat fell off to her side and her fringe tickled her forehead. The itch was bloody annoying, unfortunately she couldn't use her arms while in handcuffs. She stared at the duvet for a few minutes trying to come up with a key of sorts.
Hey, if it were a dream... it might be possible.
Her temple throbbed as she began to glare at the empty space, feeling rather stupid and silly. Not too surprising, Claire wasn't able to produce anything, much less something as complex as a key. Growling in irritation, she continuously blew from the corner of her mouth, trying to relieve the itchiness that was steadily become worse.
"Are you sure?" Ukita asked suddenly, and there was a short pause where he frowned. "No, I don't." Claire looked up, welcoming the distraction from her ever annoying tickle paradox of: tickle, blow, grumble in frustration, then repeat.
It had been clear that they'd been talking about her. It didn't really concern her as much as it probably should have. L had a certain pattern that he followed. No doubt he had come up with thirty or so different theories, sectioned them out according to their probability, and outweighed the negatives from positives. In a sense, Claire figured she had become a walking pie chart in L's mind. The image was hilarious, of course. She wondered if she could pull it off for a Halloween costume.
Lucky for her, L was a curious person and even if he thought the worst of her, he would still probably want to meet her. There was always the tiny chance that he thought she were Kira.
Which, while it hurt to be accused of someone with a God complex and a quick draw to put down others, she felt twinge of excitement. If she pushed the right buttons, maybe L would even cuff her to him, and she could sleep with him, and they could shower together... and screw each other's brains out... okay maybe not that last part, though she wouldn't be adverse to the idea. After all, she had needs too.
Somewhere during her pornographic vision, Ukita had flipped the phone closed. A goofy smile floated over her face and a blush formed across her cheeks as she stared at the wall in a daze. He cleared his throat, but she took no notice, even after a small line of saliva escaped the corner of her mouth to trail downwards slowly.
"You're drooling, Lloyd."
Again, there was no reaction.
It wasn't until the man leaned down so that he was next to her head that she became aware of just how close he was.
"Lloyd!"
Claire screeched and nearly jumped off the bed, something that amused Ukita greatly. "What the hell?!" she shouted, rubbing her the assaulted ear on a shrugged shoulder.
Laughing happily, Ukita gathered the shopping bags that had been thrown on the bed into one hand. "What were you thinking about?" he asked, calming himself somewhat, then he put a hand up. "Never mind, I really don't think I want to know."
Claire simply shrugged. "Suit yourself!" she replied merrily not trying to hid her smirk in the slightest. "So we're going to see L now?"
The officer nodded an affirmative while he walked to the door and Claire went from excited to hyper in seconds. He gestured for her to stand and waited.
"I look all right, right?" she asked nodding vigorously to assure herself. He stared blankly.
She bolted from the bed and ran over to the mirror in the bathroom. This was a big moment. She very well couldn't go in looking like Brady's equally as homeless sister. "Should I change first, you think?" she called back to him twisting her body from side to side in the mirror.
Ukita pinched the bridge of his nose; he felt a headache coming. "L isn't going to care what you look like, and I have more important things to do than babysit you."
Claire poked her head out of the bathroom with a scowl on her face. "Babysit?!" she exclaimed offended. "You can't be much older than I am. Don't be so dramatic, I mean honestly!" She scoffed. Ever since she had turned seventeen, she had taken care of herself well enough.
Ukita ran a hand through his hair in annoyance as he came to lean against the bathroom doorway. "You know, it's not like you can do anything about your appearance with your arms behind your back," he pointed out lightly. He took pity on her after seeing just how excited she really was to meet the detective.
"You underestimate me!" Claire yelled back childishly while diligently inspecting her face.
She had dark circles underneath her eyes, but in a way it accentuated her unusual eye colour. L had dark circles and he was still attractive. Her hair had probably dried to be plastered flatly to her head, but she could just keep the hat on, no worries. As far as her clothes, there was little she could do, and she didn't usually dress up anyway, so casual was pretty normal for her. Maybe L would find her unorthodox appearance likeable. At least she wasn't still going through her acne phase any longer...
"Or I could just unlock the handcuffs for you," he suggested.
Now there was a grand idea.
Claire popped her head out again and brightened. "You would do that?" she questioned.
Adjusting the bags in his hand, he produced the key from his pocket. "You have five minutes then we leave immediately, regardless of if you're ready or not." He took a few steps forward. "I'll pick you up and put you in the car myself if I have to."
Claire closed the distance between them quickly and stared at him with her head tilted to the side. "Can I keep the cuffs?"
Ukita was perplexed. "Why?" he asked hesitantly, drawling out the word slowly.
Well, she really didn't want to tell her that she wanted to have wickedly kinky sex with L, but she didn't have to, the sly grin on her face said it all. "Just in case. You never know when handcuffs might come in handy, ya know?"
Ukita unlocked the metal that had encased her wrists while trying to shake his head of the mental image. "No."
"Oh you're no fun!" She pouted cutely. "Fine. Five minutes?"
"This case is about as far from fun as a guy could get," said Ukita dryly, unintentionally putting a slight damper on her mood.
Claire ran the tap, wetting her flattened hair, and puffed it up in it's normal spiky state. She skipped across the room and plucked on of her bags from Ukita's outstretched arm, retrieved her toothbrush and toothpaste, and brushed her teeth rigorously while rushing to spit in the sink.
It probably did little for her appearance, but she felt much more refreshed and rejuvenated.
"Okay good to go!"
She grabbed the corner Ukita's suit sleeve and practically ran from the room, dragging him along behind. She didn't stop running as she made it down the hall and threw the hotel key on the desk with some money. She probably overestimated the amount in her haste, but she was about to see L. Who cared if she was off by a few hundred yen? The girl at the desk sure as heck wouldn't.
By the time Ukita had entered the driver's side, Claire was already vibrating in the passenger's seat; not too unlike the turbo control vibration of a video game remote.
Claire was staring out the window with large, curious eyes, taking everything in. There was so much of Japan she hadn't been able to see. She felt like a child on a family vacation and had to bite her tongue to keep from asking if they were almost to the motel. The car had only just begun to move.
When she found she couldn't be any more patient—a mere seven minutes and thirty-nine seconds after pulling away from Loves Hotel—she turned to Ukita. "Can't you just use your emergency thingies?"
Ukita pulled to a stop before a traffic light and looked at her from the corner of his eye in confusion. "My what?" he asked, pulling out a cigarette from his suit pocket and lighting up.
Claire looked in the back seat and then in his glove department much to Ukita's protests. "You don't have any emergency sirens?"
Ukita looked at her with a slightly confused expression. "Of course I do."
"Then where are they! This is important!" she whined, still looking for said sirens.
"Under the seat," he said nonchalantly.
She let out a victory cry and leaned down with the intent of putting them to good use. Regrettably, Ukita stopped her by smacking her hand gently.
"Ow?" she said between pursed lips and stuck her tongue at him when he turned his gaze back to the road.
Ukita rolled his eyes. "I saw that." Claire grimaced. "This isn't an emergency," he chided.
"It is in my book," she muttered under her breath before letting out a grand huff and looking out of the window.
Sighing deeply, Claire spent the remainder of the time thinking of a good first greeting. 'Hi' sounded very boring to her and she wanted to go in with a bang.
Then it hit her light a lightning bolt... or a more appropriate analogy would be a speeding bullet.
She smiled as she thought of the perfect thing. There was a small chance that it might backfire, but if she pulled it off, L would hopefully be impressed.
Thankfully the ride wasn't all too long, in fact it was quite short, but Claire still claimed she could have walked faster. She may or may not have called Ukita an old grandpa at some point as they pulled into a parking garage. It was strange at how much she wanted to meet all of them, not just L but Watari, Matsuda, Aizawa, and the rest.
The car was officially in park and Ukita exited. Claire, however, did not. She was suddenly struck with a heavy case of nerves... embarrassingly so. She hadn't been this anxious since Teddy had entered her in a Halo tournament and the prize was a few months rent (which she did win, but accidentally spent the money on more games).
What if L wrote her off as someone insane? She could very well be in a loony bin by the end of the day if she weren't careful. Who would even believe her story?
She wasn't even sure she believed it.
'Oh yeah I'm from another world and somehow got drunk and landed myself here. You're part of fiction where I come from, a manga and an anime series as a matter of fact. I know everything that's going to happen. Basically you die despite your efforts, then Kira rules the world for five years before everyone except Near and Matsuda (and a few others) die too. I'm here to stop it all...'
Where's a superhero costume when you really need one?
After a few moments, Ukita opened the door, causing her to jump. "Come on, Lloyd. Let's get this over with."
"That's okay!" Claire replied quickly. "I-I'm fine right where I am."
A large hand gripped her wrist and gave a tug. "Lloyd, get over yourself for just a second and come on! L's waiting for you."
She put on her most innocent face. "But this car seat is just so comfortable!" Yanking her hand out of his, she reached down to pull the lever, reclining the seat to lay almost flat. A small 'umpf' escaped her from the suddenness, but she recovered quickly.
"See, it's almost like a bed. You go take care of your business with L. I'll just take a little nap, I think I saw some peanuts in your glove department. If I get hungry that'll be more than enough dinner. I'm tiny so I don't need much food, and for water... for water..."
"Lloyd get your ass out here."
Ukita tugged on her ankle and began to pull, causing a screech to come out of Claire. There was nothing that she could use for leverage, but that didn't stop her from flailing about comically, trying to grab something. "I don't wanna! Don't make me!" she protested as the tips of her hand hooked around something.
The officer was stronger than he looked, holding Claire's body almost parallel to the ground as she clutched to the door frame with all of her might. "I thought you wanted to meet L," he pointed out in a strained voice.
Her fingers slipped off one by one and she finally landed flatly on her bum. To her delight, Ukita also fell on his, and she couldn't help but to laugh loudly, pointing at his unamused expression before sobering.
Ukita grumbled to himself, standing up and brushing the dirt from his suit. Seeing the girl on the ground made him sigh. "L's not so bad. I'm sure you'll be fine," he offered, extending his hand to her.
Claire, never one for being too moody, brightened instantly. "You're right. He's going to love me!" she announced as they entered the building.
They walked side by side up to the main desk where the officer smiled at the clerk. To Claire's surprise they shared a few words which in Claire's opinion was an obvious attempt at flirting; poorly executed, though. The clerk was very attractive, and had these doe-like eyes with long lashes. She smiled behind her hand as she giggled at something he'd said. Claire looked between the two during the exchange, trying to gauge just how close they actually were. As Ukita walked away, she could see the blush he wore as he said a quick goodbye over his shoulder.
Oh Ukita... you dog!
Somehow the small exchange relaxed her. Her attention was shifted from worrying about her first impression, to teasing Ukita mercilessly. And if there was something Claire truly enjoyed, it was teasing someone... It didn't take much to unnerve him, her toothy smile and short snort caused him to glance at her. From the moment they met, she could tell he'd be an easy target.
She nudged him with her shoulder playfully. "Don't look at me like that, Ukita. You're completely smitten on the lovely lady." Leaning in closer, she continued with a short glance backwards to the subject of their conversation—who was sitting with a lovesick expression. "Trust me, I don't blame you." She finished the teasing by wiggling her eyebrows.
The tips of his ears reddened, and she didn't miss the way his lips twitched in a hint of a smile before his face turned stern at her lewdness. "You're worse than Aizawa," he grumbled.
As they waited for the elevator doors to open, Claire turned to look him full on. "So, are you going to ask her out?"
The two stepped through, and only once the doors shut completely did Ukita respond. "What? No, we're just friends." He shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to sound casual, but she noticed the slightly disheartened look on his face. "Besides," he added. "It's really not a good time."
Claire wasn't ready to let him off the hook just yet.
"You mean because of Kira?" she wondered, though it came out as more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah," he replied firmly that would have been a sign to back off if it had been anyone else.
Oblivious was Clare and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You could have died today. One step over that car without a mask and you'd be a corpse laying in the road with all of the other officers," she said bluntly, causing him to look at her with slightly wide eyes, as if he hadn't actually thought about how close he had been to a heart attack. Perhaps that had been a little too blunt, but she had a point to make.
Her expression was far from hard, but she still tried to lighten it with a smile. "If anything, I'd say that would be more incentive. Anyone could die at any moment, Kira or not. Don't you think life is too short to put happiness on hold?"
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened on the top floor. It made sense, and Claire could see L's logic. Top floors meant a person had to travel fourteen floors in an elevator. If it was someone who could pose a threat, L could pull the power and there would be plenty of time. If someone took the stares there was fourteen floors to climb, and unless that person was in perfect shape there would still be plenty of time to prepare for an attack. L was a powerful person, she didn't even want to imagine the bounty on his head.
Top floor was indeed the safest way to go.
"As an officer, it's partly my responsibility to make sure others are safe. Even if she did say yes to a date, I refuse to bring her into this mess," said Ukita suddenly as they walked together down the hall, their footsteps muffled by the carpet.
Claire laughed, it wasn't the kind of laugh that resulted in her typical pig snorts. It was a small chuckle that said: 'you're being silly'. Ukita looked at her sharply, a frown set on his face, making him look much older.
"Well it's just... people die," she said with a shrug.
Not following her train of thought, Ukita tilted his head, mockingly impressed. "Brilliant Lloyd," he praised.
She grinned. Of course she was!
"Next you'll point out that people also live," he deadpanned and she shot him a glare.
Stopping in her tracks, she leaned against the wall. "That's not what I meant. I just feel that people shouldn't be afraid to do things that are a little scary because you never know when your time is going to be up. I mean if I pretend I'm dead now..." She closed her eyes. "Am I even going to be satisfied with how my life went?"
When she opened her eyes he gestured to her with his hand. "Well? How was death?"
"I don't think I'm doing this right," she admitted, making her way to the floor to lie down.
"This is pointless," he said, tiredly wiping a hand down his face, then looked down. "What the hell are you doing?" She ignored him and crossed her arms over her chest, causing him to throw his hands in the air. "I give up!"
He was sorely tempted to just leave her in the hall. When her eyes finally opened she had a peculiar expression on her face, somewhere between annoyance and confusion. "Hmm... well, I thought I would have been more happy with my life than that..."
For someone who was in the process of evaluating her life on her 'death bed' she certainly didn't seem too upset. "Let me try again. Maybe I missed something!"
"I think we should go," said Ukita, looking at the small shadow that had passed under the door.
For a moment her eyes opened to glare at him before closing again. "Hush, I'm dead," she whispered sternly, not hearing the door quietly open.
"That is quite unfortunate," came a low and soft voice from her right, and her stomach jumped to her chest as her eyes shot open to stare at the crisp white ceiling tiles.
Her eyes refused to turn and look at him, so she decided to speak... sadly it seemed all of her communication skills had left her body and she let out a small squeak of 'haah!' (which was meant to be 'Hello!').
It was just as she feared...
Slowly, painfully so, her head tilted to the side and she came to face what were possibly the nicest pair of feet she'd ever seen. They weren't huge feet, maybe a size ten—not that Claire thought the size of his feet reflected on other body parts of course. His toes were neither long nor stubby, and his toenails were clipped short, and appeared very clean. They looked really soft. Oddly enough, she wanted to touch them.
No touching L, Claire!
As she sat up she noticed Ukita had already walked inside the room and she stood, brushing off imaginary dirt from her clothes, just to have something to do with her hands. She finally settled on shoving them in her pockets while staring at the carpet. She saw his feet leave her view, and she followed him wordlessly.
The hair on her neck stood up straight as she felt him move behind her to close the door. She had steeled herself for their meeting enough and felt that she had enough of a hold on her emotions to finally look at him. Moving her eyes from feet up typical baggy jeans, she realized he, too, had his hands in his pockets. Whether or not he realized it, their stance mirrored each other's somewhat. She reached his typical long sleeved white shirt. He was hunched over, and she figured that he would have much broader shoulders if he stood to his full height.
He didn't necessarily look like a hunchback, just really casual and almost sloth-like. She could see his face, but she couldn't really make out any features yet. Her eyes were trained on his neck. Her throat went dry and she bit her tongue hoping to soothe it. When she finally grew a pair and looked up, she nearly fell over as her heart thumped loudly in her ears.
He really was attractive. It was entirely non-conventional, but he was unique and quirky. That was what made him attractive. Particularly his eyes which were wide and almost black with a halo of steely grey outlining them. Was he Brad Pitt? No. Channing Tatumn? Bloody hell, no. Jonny Depp... perhaps in his role as Edward Scissorhands. He certainly had the cheekbones, and was just as pale. His eyes continued to stare unblinkingly as she locked gazes with his.
"I'm Ryuzaki," he greeted, reaching out a hand for her to shake. Clare stared at it, almost thinking it might suddenly grow teeth and bite her.
Play it cool, Claire...
Just a simple greeting, it wasn't a big deal.
She had this.
Her gaze flitted up to meet his and narrowed in determination. To him, however, it appeared as a challenge and he seemed almost bemused.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Hoping her palms weren't sweaty, she firmly grasped his hand and moved it up and down..
Oh, Claire was doing so wonderful! Well done, Claire!
And then she blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Y-you have really, really lovely feet!" she shouted at him before little dots flickered before her head and her body became jelly-like.
It would have been quite romantic, if L had swooped in and caught her like the hero of a romantic dream, but as her knees buckled, she realized he wasn't going to. She threw her arm out, hoping to catch the wall. The tips of her fingers were mere centimetres from the wall as she misjudged the distance and banged her head instead... which didn't help with her light headedness. She felt a small wet trail drip down her chin. Great, now she was drooling over him.
What an idiot!
Turning to lean against the wall she sat down and crossed her legs, reaching up to swipe away the drool. When she inspected her hand she grimaced, but was still somewhat thankful. She hadn't had a nosebleed since she were a kid, and even then they weren't that common. Well that was slightly less embarrassing than drooling. She laughed softly, where her shoulders shook and no sound came out. She honestly thought that was just an anime thing.
Who the hell has nosebleeds in real life!
Claire did, apparently.
And just why was she so afraid of L anyway? She liked to face her challenges head on. Sure she had the occasional flippant freak out, but they never lasted long. Hadn't she already decided she would do anything to keep as many people alive as possible? She could hardly do so flailing about spilling nose blood everywhere!
Shaking her head, she squared her shoulders and started to stand on shaky legs. "Sorry about that. I—my blood sugar must be low and it's been a long day," she lied.
"I'm sure I can get something to help with that," L replied smoothly. "And thank you, no one has ever paid my feet such a pleasant compliment before." Claire mentally groaned.
"You're welcome," she forced before looking around the room. Six pairs of eyes stared back at her and she carefully wiped the rest of the blood from her face... then there was blood on her hands and she looked around for something to clean herself off with. But nothing really jumped out at her, and she really didn't want to wipe them on her clothes. That wasn't likely to make a very good impression at all.
'Hi! I promise I'm not a bloody psychopath. Ha-haha...'?
Eventually, her eyes landed on Ukita who was the only person in the room she knew. She gave him a small pout that pleaded for help. Ukita stood, rolling his eyes. "Let me get you a hand towel..." he offered dryly.
Claire took a steely breath and mentally put on her warrior armour (strangely similar to the armour she wore in World of Warcraft). Here comes the moment of truth. Holding out her reddened hand before her, she smiled nervously. "Bang?"
L's eyes widened a fraction as she mimed the same greeting he had given the task force upon their initial greeting. He gestured to the sofa. "Please, have a seat," he offered before sitting in the small chair.
Out of nowhere, or rather out of Ukita's hand, a sopping towel smacked her in the face. She stumbled a little, but Claire managed to grab it before it hit the floor and sat down. "Thanks," she bit out wiping herself off.
"Interesting," L admitted, pulling his feet to his chest. "I wasn't aware Ukita had told you about that."
Claire, satisfied with how clean her face and hands were, folded the terry cloth. She looked around, not knowing what to do with it and settled on simply holding it until Watari came in to drop off cake for L. To her surprise he set another slice before her. On the way out he took the cloth and nodded to L (some sort of silent signal, Claire was positive). She grabbed the plate and shovelled the food in her mouth, closing her eyes and humming in appreciation.
Like heaven on a plate...
Finally she opened her eyes and smiled. "He didn't." The eyes around her still lingered on her and she shifted with discomfort.
"Can we talk alone, maybe? There are things I don't want everyone to know..." she trailed off hoping he caught the unspoken words: 'things you don't want them to know either'.
He stood in one swift motion, leaving his cake for another time. "There's a room in the back."
Claire took a few steps forward before rushing back to the coffee table and shoving in the last two bites of her cake; it was just too delicious for her to pass up.
Sprinting to catch up, she followed him to the bedroom. It took a lot of willpower not to attack him, but she proudly remained strong and looked around to take her mind off the fact that she was in L's bedroom. It didn't look too unlike her hotel bedroom (the second room, not the dungeon of course). L sat on the only chair in the room, again adopting his customary gargoyle position, while she moved to sit on the bed.
"There are cameras scattered throughout the room," he commented calmly.
She smiled, expecting nothing less. "I'm not surprised," she admitted, glancing back at him. "So what do you want to know? Where should I start?"
"I believe a customary greeting would make the most sense. After running your face through various recognition software programs, your name still hasn't been found."
Claire nodded, somewhat thankful. For all she knew, there was another self out there identical to her and it wouldn't be so good if they crossed paths, wickedly cool, but not good. She'd seen enough time travel films to know you don't run into your carbon copy. It just messes with everything; something about a shift in the world's natural rotation or some mumbo jumbo of that nature.
"You can call me Lloyd," she offered, then let out a small sigh and flopped back on the bed facing away from L.
"Is Lloyd your name?" he asked.
She laughed. "You and I are a lot alike in that sense." Her chin tilted up so that she could see L, who was upside down from her prospective. He had pulled out a lollipop at some point, and was licking it, pausing every so often to swirl a pink tongue around it while deep in thought.
Damn that oral fixation... she thought, rolling over on her stomach.
Claire's lips parted. What she would give to be that lollipop right now... His tongue darted out again and hers did too. When he looked up she instantly shut her mouth and scratched her neck, embarrassed to be caught openly gaping.
"The mnemonic code was clever." Claire brightened and flashed a toothy smile. "The question remains how you know my name."
Her smile faded. "I can't really tell you that."
His eyes seemed to look deeply into hers and she let out a small, girlish gurgle of joy, which he ignored. "Why is that?"
Again, she didn't have an answer.
"I don't know..."
"You don't know," he parroted, narrowing his eyes. "Then what will you tell me?"
She shrugged. "I guess I just need to be here." As a side thought she added, "I kinda already told you this, but there are things I know that I shouldn't know... but somehow I do... you know?"
L stared. "No."
She was confused. "No? What do you mean no?"
"No, I don't know," he said simply with incredibly innocent eyes.
"Oh..." she said dumbly. "Okay, basically what I'm trying to say is this... I have..." She paused. "Well, I have these dreams or something. And something just told me I need to come here, so tada! I found myself here and now I'm going to help!"
"I see, and why are you wanting to help with this investigation so badly?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. Biting her lip, she shook her head. "So you can't tell me that either."
"It's not that I want to keep these things from you, but I shouldn't... a-at least not yet. Maybe at some point I can, but right now..."
At some point L had finished his lollipop (much to Claire's sorrow) and began chewing at his thumb as he listened intently. His stare was more intimidating than she thought it'd be. After a tense silence, he removed his thumb from his mouth. "Is that your way of admitting you have some sort of psychic powers? There has been vast research regarding extrasensory perception, but there still isn't enough conclusive data that would—"
"I'm not psychic," Claire interrupted, trying to brush off the comment with a smile that L knew was forced.
"ESP could be easily tested, Lloyd."
She shook her head. "I wouldn't be able to prove anything, what would you ask me to prove it anyway? 'Who is Kira?' 'What colour tie will Matsuda wear tomorrow?' 'What is my favourite food?'"
"Do you have the answers to those questions?"
She rested her chin on her arms, peeking up at him through her lashes and said nothing. She didn't want to think of what might happen if she cried Kira with no evidence to back up her claim. If she gave all the answers, things might turn out worse than before! Ryuk might even go mad and create a natural destruction because she ruined his fun.
Best case scenario: Ryuk kills Claire and Light then gets over it and returns to the Shinigami realm.
Worst case scenario: He kills everyone in Japan with an earthquake for 'lols' because Claire stole his fun away.
Super worst case scenario: Rem takes over the world because Claire sent Misa to jail for execution and she went mad.
"Quick to deny the question of clairvoyance, I'm more inclined to think you are lying," he said more to himself than to Claire.
"So you believe in ESP?" she found herself asking.
"It hasn't been proven false, until then I'm aware of the possibility." L gestured for her to continue and Claire huffed.
She certainly wasn't psychic, but would it really be so terrible if L thought she did have some sort of clairvoyance or ESP... whatever it was? Though, now that she said she wasn't psychic, in his mind, the percentage that she was psychic had gone up. If she suddenly changed her mind and admitted that she knew the future then he would think she was mad and the percentage that she wasn't psychic would shift and go up instead! So all she had to do was pretend that she wasn't psychic, or at least pretend that she didn't want him to know she was psychic.
Ugh, her head was hurting from all of the thinking... and she just gave in. If they continued in the manor they were going, they would just talk in circles.
"Matsuda will probably wear a red tie since he doesn't seem own too many ties. Your favourite food is something with strawberries, of that I'm almost positive. Maybe it's cake, or maybe it's just the fruit itself, but not alone. They'd have to be covered in sugar or syrup, but not jam," rambled Claire as she clenched her eyes shut trying to remember any detail that might persuade him to cling to his ESP theory.
"I can't tell you who Kira is, and it's not because I don't want to. I just can't, there would be no way to prove it other than my word anyway. You have to follow through the investigation on your own special way of process of elimination, statistics, and percentages... or however you solve your cases. I can give you tips, I can warn you, but I can't point fingers. Even if I did, it'd just be my word against theirs."
L leaned in closer to her, looking like he might fall off of the chair. "Why not jam?" he asked lowly.
She stared at the edge of the bed and licked her bottom lip. It wasn't all that surprising that jam of all things was the one fact he decided to dwell on. "W-well... That was what Beyond used to taunt you with during the BB investigation," she answered.
When she looked up, she noticed just how hard he were biting down on his thumb. The indentations of his teeth were turning pink where blood pooled around the raised edges contained only by a thin surface of skin. Glaring lightly, she reached forward to smack his hand away from his mouth. "Stop that! You'll make yourself bleed."
He visibly tensed and went ridged in his seat, but opposite of his body language, his face calm and collected. He betrayed nothing of his thoughts, which made her incredibly nervous.
She wondered if she had crossed a line by touching him. "Sorry," she murmured just in case. Even with a handcuff linking them together, Light never really touched L. It was clear that he had an aversion to human touch, but behind his eyes she could see him replaying their conversation and she decided to remain silent until he had a few percentages to throw at her.
Yawning quietly, she closed her eyes. Just for a moment, she was tired, and it didn't help that L's bed was just as soft as the one at Loves Hotel. Anyone would want a small cat nap on what felt like a cloud... especially after what she'd been through.
L's mind was like a whiteboard full of numbers all formed into assorted formulas to come up with different possibilities. He meticulously sifted out the most unlikely actions based on the current content he was given, storing the rest to pull up at another time. Within the small stretch of silence he had worked out a few theories, however improbable, but there wasn't enough information to come to a solid conclusion.
And that bothered him.
He noticed the girl had already fallen asleep and was snoring softly on his bed. She was different, but he couldn't yet decide if she were trust worthy at the current time. The case with BB hadn't been difficult, but it had hit him hard. Very few people understood just what their relation had been, and most of the information had been kept from the press. No one knew they had grown up in the same orphanage, or that BB had purposely baited L.
It seemed the most likely explanation was also the most improbable.
With a small sigh, he exited and made note to ask Watari to bring some extra blankets for her. He'd finish his calculations later, for now he had to worry about this new power Kira possessed.
The task force looked up at him as he took his spot just in time for Soichiro to escort Light in. He looked at them all before flicking his gaze to the bedroom door in an unspoken order to not mention Lloyd just yet.
L stepped forward. "Thank you for coming so late, Yagami."
"My pleasure, Ryuga. We both want to catch Kira, though I'm surprised you asked for my help," Light admitted, extending his hand for L to shake before he tilted his head in greeting to the rest of the task force. They did a small role call of introduction.
L nodded serenely. "I will call you Light here. I would appreciate if you call me Ryuzaki in return. In light of recent events I merely wanted someone I can form a second opinion from." He motioned to the chair. "I am quite confident in your deduction skills."
He moved across the room to pick up a file. "I have all of the data collected on Kira as of now, as well as the tapes that aired earlier. I would like you to examine them and tell me what you find. This is restricted information and any release to the public will warrant arrest for treason."
"Of course," Light clipped as L slid the tape into the player and turn the video on. The detective stepped back to watch Light as he listened to the message, concentration was evident on his face as well as mild disgust.
L had genuine faith in Light's deduction skills, he hadn't lied when he paid the compliment. With his ability to assemble clues together, there was over an eighty-seven percent chance that he would deduce that of a fake Kira. Based on the current information Kira claimed within the tapes, not only did this new Kira kill victims who had been guilty of minor crimes, those same criminals had never been punished by the original Kira.
The notion that Kira had suddenly changed his motives was almost unnecessary to consider, and the probability was less than two percent. Psychopaths typically had a few chosen ways of murder. They were prone to order, schedules, and believes that inflated some sort of superior complex. It wasn't in Kira's pattern to make examples of innocent citizens just to prove a point. Kira liked to take risks, he liked to toy with L, but he wasn't flamboyant. Until recently, Kira had stuck firmly to the root of his cause—no matter how skewed and unjustified those beliefs were.
Though the change was an obvious one, it wasn't necessarily the key clue that supported the theory of a second Kira.
The Kira they had previously been pursuing needed both a face and name to commit murder. The theory was supported heavily by those policemen who had been killed within seconds of arrival. More time would have been required to search each individual officer to find a name, meaning the new Kira somehow knew the names based on a face alone. Perhaps that was why he had request an appearance on television from L. Kira planned to execute L publicly in the name of justice; however, it seemed this Second Kira also underestimated L's intelligence gravely.
Now the question remained, what would Light think? He knew Kira would never pass up the opportunity to be rid of L under the assumption that the entire case would be at standstill.
Twenty minutes passed before L walked over to stand next to Light, putting his index finger to his lip he asked, "Have you found anything?"
Light's eyes narrowed slightly as he stood swiftly. "Yeah. The Kira from the tapes is not the same from the Kira we've been after so far. This one seems to have gained a new power." Light glanced at his father whose eyes shone with pride. The corner of his lips lifted upwards slightly before he continued. "The power to see a name along with a face, which makes him or her more of a threat."
Ah. Of course Light would already think ahead. L both enjoyed and was miffed at his brilliant mind. As a team-mate they were a force and nearly unbeatable, but as an enemy their minds were too equally matched.
L nodded in agreement. "Very good Light, I deduced the same theory myself."
Light put his hands in his pockets. "You were testing me?" he asked, forcing hurt into his voice.
L's eyes widened innocently. "No. As I said earlier, I merely wanted a second opinion. The fact that you came to the same conclusion only strengthens my theory. I appreciate your time."
"What do we do now, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked.
L glanced at the task force from the corner of his eye then let his gaze return to Light. "This new Kira is stronger in than the original only in the new addition to his power. It's clear that he supports Kira, but he also seems somewhat impulsive. I believe he has a real obsession and his dedication may be the key to finding the real Kira."
Light frowned for a moment. "He? How positive are you this Kira is a man?"
"I'm not positive, as a matter of fact I believe it is almost a fifty percent chance either way," L replied bluntly. Upon noticing the look on Light's face he lifted an eyebrow. "Is there something else, Light?"
"What about the girl?" he offered. "She knew something when she rushed in after dad." He paused. "What is the possibility that she is the Second Kira?"
There was a pregnant pause in the room as no one wanted to admit that the girl was not only in the building, but in L's bedroom.
"Undetermined at the moment... however I—"
He was cut off by the small creak of a door opening and all pairs of eyes turned to look at the sleepy girl, who ran a hand through her hair, fixing it into place. Yawning, her arms rose above her head in a small stretch, showing a small bit of her stomach from where the last few buttons on her shirt had come undone somewhere during her tossing and turning.
"Man that was the best cat nap I've had in ages," she said with a hum before stopping dead in her tracks and looking around at the room full of people, her mouth pulling into a little 'o' shape. Her eyes grew wide as she looked from L to Light and back to L.
"Oh... erm..." She tugged on the collar of her shirt nervously and gave a small wave. "Heyo."
AN: It's been a while since my last update and I'm sorry for the wait. This chapter took less than a few hours to write, but when I got feedback from Claire we both agreed that it was way too serious. An exact quote was: "Damn I sound boring! Can't you make me sound more awesome?"
Every time I read this chapter, I'd find something that needed an edit. I'm still not fully satisfied, because I really wanted her first meeting with L to flow with a perfect mix of sincerity and humour. I'm not positive I pulled it off; however, I know it's time for you guys to receive a new chapter and I thank you for waiting patiently.
Thanks for all the reviews I got last chapter. If I haven't thanked you via PM then I am officially expressing my gratitude. It's very encouraging to hear that my story (and Claire) is well liked.
Reviews are very much appreciated.
