A/N: I do not own Death Note.
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Chapter 4 A Party To This
Aw shit! This was a nightmare! Yes, this was exactly what he needed when he could turn into a monster at any moment! From the looks of it Sayu had invited half his school! If they discovered his problem... But he was seeing no polite way to make them all leave. Well maybe if he set the house on fire... before he could finish that thought Sayu got out A LIST and began reading off the itinerary of what they were going to be doing on Light's birthday looking far more enthusiastic than her brother. Light dutifully faked a smile but if anyone cared to look his eyes betrayed that he found all of this about as fun as having a root canal. Light was immediately regretting leaving the planning entirely in the hands of his fourteen year old sister...
"Hurry up and eat your breakfast, sleepyhead," Sayu grinned, pointing out how Light had for once slept in and they let him do so. "When you're done eating, we're gonna go out and see [Generic Date Movie] 2 and then we'll go get lunch out, then we'll go to the arcade, and then we'll come back here and play party games, and then we'll have cake, and then you can open your presents, and then we'll play more party games and then we'll have dinner and then..."
Light listened with mounting horror, praying that Sayu hadn't made this into a slumber party too. ('And then we'll have MAKEOVERS! And I'll paint your nails pink and we'll play spin the bottle and...')
Sayu announced "and we'll go out to a Hideki Ryuuga concert!"
Light perked up. Okay maybe that last one wasn't so bad. Maybe he'd get to see...
"So get started! You're keeping everyone waiting!" Sayu shouted enthusiastically, nearly pushing her brother face-first into his cereal bowl.
As the others dispersed to enjoy the snack trays Sachiko provided Light's oldest friends Yamamoto and Ryou approached him while he was eating his breakfast.
"Hey Light, you okay?"
Light paused in his eating to greet them. "Yeah... what's up?"
"Well it's just..."
"It's your birthday and you seem too excited about it."
"Oh... it's just I haven't had my coffee yet..." Light explained.
"Oh I know why he's down," Yamamoto announced. "It's because he's become a SERIAL KILLER!"
Light nearly choked on his corn flakes. "WHAT?"
Ryou funneled a newspaper up into a fake megaphone and shouted "DROP THE SPOON AND STEP AWAY FROM THE BOWL!"
Yamamoto pointed at Light's cornflakes as if he were speaking to a complete retard. "A Cereal Killer. Get it?"
"Oh. Ha ha! Good one." Light forced an awkward laugh. He was sure his sweat glands were going on overdrive and no doubt if Ryuk were human he would have died laughing by now.
"Hey, don't worry man. We won't tell Kira," Yamamoto promised.
Just then Sachiko came up behind them and with pulled the protesting boys away by the ears.
"Boys, let him eat his breakfast in peace before you start harassing him."
Before?
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Once they arrived at the movie theater the catfighting commenced almost immediately over who got to sit next to Light (and here the who got to ride with him fight had been bad enough!) Why did Sayu have to invite all these girls from his school? Was she hoping to start some real life drama? Well Mission Accomplished. The exams had been a convenient excuse for his not dating any of them but now that the exams were over (and Sayu had suggested none too subtly that her brother was available) Light was left searching for a place to hide. It was disgraceful, ridiculous, the way these girls were throwing themselves at him. Couldn't they find a nice straight boy to bother?
Light, as diplomatically as possible, requested to sit with Yamamoto and Ryou. Alas it seemed that they had caught whatever weirdness had affected Ryuk this morning as they were suddenly just as bad about respecting personal boundaries...
As expected the movie was the boring formulaic drivel that middle-aged men thought teenage girls liked to watch. As Light sat there (considering punishing the entire production team for making this atrocious crime against humanity) Yamamoto yawned and stretched so that his arm fell across Light's shoulders. Light's eyes narrowed (and unbeknownst to him began glowing a dim red in the dark of the movie theater) as he felt Yamamoto's hand progressively moving south. Light leaned back in his chair trapping his movements before he could put it down the back of his pants. Alas, this just gave Ryou easier access to pretend to fall asleep in his lap.
What was WRONG with everyone lately? Yeah, he knew he was hot and all but seriously where was it written that he must be molested by everyone he came in contact with? Yamamoto seemed to interpret Light's move as encouraging as he began stroking in small circles along Light's back. Light was becoming distinctly uncomfortable as he was held hostage by his childhood friends. It's not like he wanted to do anything with Mr. Sorry-Light-I-Only-Give-Cards-To-Girls anyway (that ship had sailed!) Yamamoto certainly didn't when he was in his right mind—he made that abundantly clear. Meaning it was him, whatever this demony-thingy was, that was causing this… Light sweat-dropped again. The longer the party went on the probability that he'd get gang-banged before the day was over was rapidly approaching one... Light experimentally lit up a couple little sparks of flame. Ryou and Yamamoto yelped and broke away.
"Ow! Fucking static!" Light hissed at the same time as he put out the fire. Ryou and Yamamoto seemed to accept the explanation and at least they had the good grace to look sheepish.
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Lunch presented more such awkwardness. Light hadn't taken two steps through the door before SOMEONE was trying to grab his ass. Light was getting very irritated about the whole thing. Wasn't it obvious he wasn't interested, would never be interested, and found dating his classmates about as interesting as watching cement dry? Well, he supposed he should be grateful it wasn't so obvious and that people were morons. (After all it made ruling over them as God a feasible goal.) Only his mother seemed to sense Light's discomfort and suggested they eat at home instead. No sooner had they returned to the Yagami household then Sayu announced it was "PRESENTS TIME!"
Light dutifully opened the gifts. His mother got him a new sweater, and an Advance XP (the silver one). Light felt a vein popping in his forehead. Ryuk must have dropped a hint (and made it look like his handwriting.) Light could only hope that said hint wasn't on Death Note paper.
Another gift was a gift basket filled with apple-scented bodywash and lotion. Since the apples kept disappearing around him his family had come to the conclusion he loved apples. Light purposefully avoided eye contact with Ryuk—those had to go in the trash A.S.A.P. before his newly lecherous Shinigami-turned-stalker got any ideas. (Too late).
Light quirked his eyebrow when he unrolled the poster his sister had gotten him. A Hideki Ryuuga poster. Now was this a case of Sayu getting him what she wanted or... Sayu winked at him. Then did Sayu know he was a fan as well? (And if it WAS the same Ryuuga how he might just have just as much of a crush on the idol as she did?) Because he sure as hell didn't tell her!
His father had sent along a gift (that was actually for his graduation since he had forgotten about his birthday) but Light accepted it just the same. It was a very nice watch. Especially with how easy it would be to modify the casing on the back... It would be very useful in the future.
Ryou got him the latest Assassin's Creed game and Yamamoto got him a Magneto action figure. Now from previous birthdays he had the whole set. Light had to keep from rolling his eyes. Just because Yamamoto was an X-men otaku didn't mean they all were. He had just turned eighteen! Weren't they a bit old to be playing with toys? Still he didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings so he accepted it with a smile. Since the cheap plastic supervillain had actual magnets in it Light placed it far away from the electronics on the table... in the empty chair usually reserved for Souichiro that they all knew would remain empty as the Chief would continue working. Only Light knew that, in a way, he did have his father's attention this year—and while being the prime suspect in a mass murder case wasn't exactly the type of attention he wanted from his father, beggars can't be choosers.
Cake was next. Light didn't really care for sweets but his mother seemed to think he liked chocolate cake since he always requested it—because Sayu liked chocolate cake. The others all marveled that he managed to blow out all eighteen candles in one try. (Unbeknownst to them he had a bit of help from a Shinigami flapping his wings...)
"Oh! What did you wish for?" asked Yamamoto.
"Stupid! If he tells it won't come true!" his sister scolded.
"Was it for a car?" asked one of his classmates.
"Or maybe a hot new girlfriend?"
Light was struck with the sudden epiphany that these people that he lived with his family, his friends—they really didn't know him at all. He supposed that was fortunate, but still...
"I wished for world peace," Light replied in a grave tone.
"Wha—Seriously?"
"You're no fun," Sayu pouted. "And now it won't come true! Dummy!"
Only Light could hear the Shinigami snickering in the background.
"Yes it will," Light insisted, eyes shining with idealism and determination "because we'll make it happen! It will take more than wishing to make it true. We all need to do our part! I can count on you, right guys?"
Yamamoto rolled his eyes. "You're such a dork."
Light gave them a winning, fake smile accompanied by an equally fake laugh, the one he reserved for these awkward social situations. They never could tell the difference.
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Light managed to weasel his way out of playing a game of Twister (whoever invented that game was EVIL!) by claiming to be not feeling too well and sat out on the living room chair (the couch was too much of an invitation... not that it stopped some girls he didn't know the names of from draping themselves all over him) watching, with growing horror as his "friends" kept getting more and more possessive of him as the day wore on.
"Light is MY bestest friend!"
"No way, Light is MY bestest friend!"
"My gift was cooler, right Light?"
The hours passed.
Yamamoto finally seemed to notice that Light was the only one not having any fun… It all began as a totally misguided attempted to cheer him up…
"You know what we need to live up this party? Drinks!"
That snapped Light out of his funk. "NO! Just... that's ILLEGAL!"
"Aw, lighten up, Light! It's not every day you turn 18!" Yamamoto's year of studying abroad must have left him confused. Eighteen was not the legal drinking age in Japan-to partake in this would be a CRIME!
Light crossed his arms across his chest and scowled. "No I will not have booze at my party."
"There is no booze; it's wine! We're fucking sophisticated here!"
"Language!" Light hissed. His little sister was in the room for fuck's sake!
"Hey, it's not like dad will ever know..."
"Sayu!" Light was utterly scandalized by his sister wanting to partake in this.
That clinched it. There was NO way… it was a crime. Criminal. EVIL. It was hardly the sort of crime he typically judged but still it was the principle of the thing. He couldn't become less than perfect! Light lunged at Yamamoto and they struggled over the bottle. Light managed to wrest it away with such force that the bottle hit the wall and turned to glass shards, cutting the palm of his hand to the bone. In shock, Light slipped and fell backwards, banging his head against the wall.
There was a disconnect and for a moment everything else ceased to exist but the blood pouring down onto the shards of glass that now littered the floor catching the reflection of the rising moon as it shone through the window-a reflection that shifted and turned red when his blood mixed with the white wine as if in silent offering to Hecate. The red fountain turned to black...