Title: Life Imitating Art
Chapter Four: The Truest Words to Say
"Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk…"
Eyes laden with a scarlet glow ignored the grating laugh behind them. Tossing an apple over a clothed shoulder, those same eyes stared down at the paper in front of them, pen poised dutifully in the owner's pale white hand.
Thoughts of a certain someone touching what was his swirled around in the man's head as he continued glaring down at the blank page, hand itching to write down a name…
"Did you do what I told you to?"
"Yeah… he's probably reading it now, for all we know."
A smirk settled over the man's twisted lips as he settled the pen down and leaned back against his chair. Ebony hair messily shadowed the man's crimson eyes, a small note of satisfaction gleaming within his chest.
"Do you think this plan of yours is really gonna work?"
The man stayed silent, simply smirking down at the notebook in front of him.
'My eyes are everywhere, Yagami Raito...'
Fingers lightly traced the keyboard next to them, as the computer screen flashed a picture of Raito's face smirking slightly at the figure across from it, a small sinister smile curling around the man's pale lips.
'Where are yours?'
"Yagami-san is very presumptuous." Dark eyes falsely narrowed as the young man smirked in his direction.
"I get the feeling you like that, L."
'Like that? I think that is an understatement…' L's eyes raked in the young man's figure as he enticingly leaned back against the sink, curtains still lying half-hazardously on the floor.
"Please do not call me that, Yagami-san. I have already told you, my name is-"
"Don't give me that crap. I'm not an idiot so don't treat me like one."
Smooth silky skin. Smooth… silky… skin… Damn it, it was all L could stare at!
'I wonder if he's as tasty as he looks…'
Focus, L, focus!
Right…
Focus.
"It's cute how you're trying to seem so uninterested. But…" Raito languidly leaned his elbows back on the bathroom counter. "It's really not working. Why don't you just tell me what you want and leave me the hell alone?"
'It should be illegal to look that good while still being bitchy.' L thought as he felt his long fingers twitch within his pockets.
"Yagami-san is both arrogant and irritating." L stated as he brought one hand out of his pocket and placed it in his mouth. "Yet, I must ask. What led Yagami-san to assume that I was L?"
Raito rolled his eyes, strolling over to the shaggy haired detective.
'Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, OH GOD, HE'S IN MY PERSONAL BUBBLE! EEK!'
Of course, L's face stayed as blank as ever, inner-pandemonium aside.
"First off, your clothes."
"My clothes?"
"No investigator would come near a suspect, as I'm sure I am one, looking as if he just got out of a hobo-shop."
"Hobo-shop?"
"Your hair."
"…"
"Looks as if a bird just nestled in it and called it a day. Think if I took out some bird food, we'd get to see some bird-action?"
"Yagami-san is cruel."
"The way you talk…"
"Yes?"
"You speak as if you don't know what you're going to say before hand."
"And? Besides being slightly insulting, I do not see how that proves I am L."
"Your eyes say differently, is all."
"My eyes, you say? Yagami-san is very perceptive."
"Hm."
"That, and very gay himself, if the past conversation is anything to go by."
"And your point is?"
Oh, today was L's best day ever.
"Nothing. I was just attempting to indicate that his sexuality seems to be equally in question to my own is all."
"Congratulations. You've managed to do that quite nicely. Now will you stop staring at me as if you wish to eat me?"
Raito smirked slyly as L blinked sluggishly, still staring straight at Raito's unclothed chest. "Or, did you come here with the intention to just stare at me and pretend you're somebody else, or are you going to talk about the murders?"
"I was trying to get to that." L stated rather dryly, still eyeing the young man like a hawk. (For detective purposes, of course) "I do have many questions to ask Yagami-san."
"Of course you do." Raito brushed back his damp bangs and grinned at the 'anonymous' detective, strolling out of the bathroom in a queenly manner. "I would like to know why you keep calling me Yagami-san when we're nowhere near Japan. Formalities are unnecessary here, you know?"
"I figured Yagami-san would appreciate the sentiment."
"Well… I don't. So stop it, L-san."
L's eye twitched.
"I see your point. I suppose you would like me to call you by your 'stage name'-"
"I thought that was a given."
"But I think I like the Japanese pronunciation a lot better. Raito… It is missing something though…"
"Light is just fine, considering you speak English so damn well-"
"Raito-kun!"
The edgy look the young singer gave the insomniac detective could cut through ice.
"Ok, first off, I thought we gave up on the formalities."
L tilted his head to the side, placing his thumb in between his lips as he put his hand on the bathroom doorknob.
"But it sounds so kawaii."
Raito sighed irritably as he crossed his arms over his bare chest. (Oh God, I wanna piece of that! L thought to himself) "You are sore loser, you know that?"
"I do not know what you mean, Raito-kun." Big innocent (fake) eyes stared back at the musician as he held in the impulse to tackle the sexy man onto the ground and tie him up somewhere. (Specifically, in the bedroom on top of the younger man's bed.)
"Yeah, sure. Anyways…" Both men walked out of the bathroom, Raito steadily ignoring the blank stare L continued to give him as he chewed on one of his thumbs. "So what do you… want… to… talk about?"
Watari blinked as a wire hanging out of one of his hands swung to and fro, Raito gazing at him with wide eyes.
"Ah… Hello." The older man stated, taking in Raito's less than clothed state… and L's reaction to Raito's less than clothed state. "I see you two are… bonding well."
Raito's eye twitched at the insinuation.
"Bonding isn't the word, Mr...?" Raito questioned, his fingers twitching in agitation.
'Not just one strange man in my house, but two.' The famous brunette grudgingly groaned inside his mind. 'How lucky am I? Now all I need is the psychotic stalker chasing me down to be here and I'll be brimming with crazies!'
"I see. Watari is fine, Mr. Yagami."
Raito's eye twitched once again.
'Is privacy no longer an availability here?!' He almost shouted at the two, yet Raito knew it would get him nowhere.
Watari knelt back down onto the floor and finished what he was doing before getting up and eyeing the two men rather wearily. "I suppose… I shall see you at a later time, Ryuuga. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Yagami."
The white haired man quickly scuttled out of the room in a hurry, not even glancing twice at the two other men inside the room. A molten sepia gaze nearly caught the older of the two on fire as L waltzed into the living room and sat down, legs pulled up to his chest in a classic rendition of a children's sitting position.
"You wired my house." Raito deadpanned.
'He certainly catches on quickly.' L thought to himself as he subtly smirked in between his thumb.
"And if I did?" The detective was truly intrigued by the boy's amazing deduction skills.
"Well then I guess it's safe to assume that you put up camera's in all of my rooms as well?" Raito fingered his drying locks as he rolled his up towards the ceiling and huffily sighed through his nose. "And will continue to put up more from the looks of it… right?"
"Hm."
That smirk had still not removed itself off L's face.
"Is it alright if I go into my room and finally put on some clothes, or do you have camera's set up in there, too?!"
"Would it stop you if I did?"
"You… are a pervert."
"And Raito-kun is an exhibitionist, so it all works out in the end."
"Does that get you off?"
"Would it bother Raito-kun if it did?"
"For someone who isn't attracted to me, you sure have the whole 'perverted stalker' thing set up to a tee."
"It is all for Raito-kun's safety, I assure you."
Raito turned to the older man in question, his face gaining a stoic quality to it. "You don't believe I had anything to do with those murders, do you?"
L's smirk slowly slid off his face as he examined the younger of the two rather extensively. The tension in Raito's features was cleverly subdued, but it was still there nevertheless. And those eyes…
L knew what the eyes of a murderer looked like.
"Raito-kun is not completely cleared of suspicion, but he will be monitored nonetheless. This shall not be an inconvenience, yes?"
Raito rolled his eyes before he stepped into his room, shutting the door without another word.
The dark haired detective simply pulled out a laptop that lay underneath the coffee table and quickly switched it onto the cameras that lay throughout the bedroom (two for now) and watched the superstar through both perspectives.
'It's good to be a powerful detective with fast working lackeys and unlimited connections to spy equipment…'
Raito eyed the phone in his hand once more, the hotel walls closing in on him within his own mind as the urge to call his father once more invaded his subconscious.
'Why won't you leave me alone…'
The young artist threw the note onto the ground in a fit of rage, the crumpled words replaying in his mind.
Eyes closed as the brunette collapsed on top of his bed and sighed, tension encasing his entire being.
"I can't take this anymore."
Raito scowled as the feeling of being watched intensified, the knowledge that his room was now laced with cameras not lost on the poor boy.
'Whoever has done this will most definitely pay…'
Though the world's most famous detective, who was most likely watching the footage at this moment in time, was up there as well when it came to thoughts of revenge.
'Damn pervert.'
And who would have thought the great detective 'L' was a big fruity pervert, who was not only a bad liar, but had stalking fetishes and enjoyed teenage pop music?
'Thank God I didn't go into detective work with my dad…'
Raito would have probably killed the man if he had met him in a different setting outside of this bizarre one.
The young brunette proceeded to pull a light blue tee shirt over his head before grabbing a pair of boxers and pulling them on with relish.
'Well, if he's going to watch, might as well put on a good show.' Raito thought laughingly to himself, his entertainer-mentality shining through in spades.
He strolled over to his dresser, yanking out a pair of lounge pants, when a small piece of white paper lying quite innocently next to his multiple skin care products caught his always discerning eye.
A feeling quite reminiscent to panic settled in his chest.
'It can't be…'
Raito candidly picked the strip of paper up between two fingers and brought it up to his sight, his heart pounding within his throat in suspense.
'But with my luck, of course it is.'
"I just need something… deeper."
Raito stared up at the ceiling, eyes glazed over in concentration. Darkness encased the room as the russet haired singer lay by himself in the solidarity of his room, words rolling off his tongue without him noticing.
"I feel like I'm empty inside and yet…" Raito rolled over, a large space beside him on the queen sized bed mocking him as he spoke. "I can't seem to find someone who can make me feel something more."
A small black leather-bound notebook lay on his night table, open to a blank page with a small ball point pen on top of it. Raito stretched his arm out, hand trembling slightly from an emotion he could not name.
"Maybe I can purge this out of me." A raspy whisper unrecognizable to Raito's own ears rang forgotten in the vestiges of his mind as he sat up and laid the notebook on his lap and gingerly picked up the pen, already losing himself to the words swirling in his never resting mind.
"Maybe…"
'Or maybe I can at least fill this void inside…'
Little by little, words filled the paper as a bittersweet melody began to crawl within his ears. A light humming encased the silence of the room and took Raito away from the cold emptiness he could never seem to shed.
"Hm, hm, hm…"
"Tomorrow never knows, but now
I don't have any hesitations-
Like the wings that get lost in the sunny sky…
Good bye... thank you...
Because you are here,
I can start walking
On the path leading to the future.
I believe that
My dreams can come true..."
"Huh."
Raito stared down at the words, pleased with himself so far. A smile lay unwittingly on the boy's lush lips as the never-ending questions floating around in his mind lay forgotten, at least, for now.
L's eyes widened, the bags under them emphasized by the sudden shift in size as Raito stumbled backwards, a small piece of paper clutched tightly in his possession.
"What is that?" The spindly detective asked himself as Raito quickly sat down on the bed, his chin down to his collarbone.
Caramel brown eyes closed as a shuddered sigh escaped those beautiful lips L so loved to stare at, the closet fan's own hands beginning to clench themselves.
"L…" The dark haired man pursed his lips as the name came out unbidden (once again), but listened to the smooth tenor voice as Raito continued to speak. "I think you need to look at this."
L slowly pulled the laptop off his person and slouched forward off the couch, his blank façade not hinting towards the unmistakable anticipation that lay underneath.
The detective's pale hand pulled the knob forward and shuffled into the room, the intense stare Raito gave off immediately focusing on him as he calmly walked to the bed and stood in front of the anxious looking musician.
"Raito-kun…?"
"Here." The younger of the two shoved the note into L's awaiting hands, plopping down backwards onto the bed as ebony eyes quickly scanned the tiny lettering on the small piece of paper.
Wishes of agony
Trapping my faltering self-control
Grasping the last of my sanity
As dreams of your flesh finally take its toll…
Wishes of torment
Floating through my mind
By the end of my plight
You will be mine.
"Is this the first note you have received?"
Raito said nothing, closing his eyes in a flutter of blinks.
"Raito-kun?"
"What do you think that note means?" Raito asked quietly, his eyes still shut.
"I should think that is quite obvious, Raito-kun."
L dropped the note against the bed, leaning down over Raito's prone body in a fit of whimsy.
"Is Raito-kun scared?"
Honey brown slowly opened, L's face merely inches away from Raito's own. A small moment of silence lay between the two men as one gazed down at the other, trying to ponder the secrets that lay within those chocolate depths.
Raito stayed silent, closing his eyes once again and puffing out a breath of air.
"Read the last part to me again, please."
L smirked as Raito once again avoided one of his questions, plucking the note up with two scrupulous fingers and holding it rather close to his face.
"Wishes of torment… Floating through my mind… By the end of my plight… You will be mine. It seems Raito-kun definitely has his share of deranged admirers."
L ignored the snort the 17-year-old gave at his expense.
"I suppose Raito-kun shall need a bit more surveillance than just cameras and constant monitoring…"
"Don't go there."
"Raito-kun-"
"Who are you really fooling here?"
"I just think-"
"N-O; no!"
"Raito-kun is being stubborn."
"We've only known each other for about a half an hour and you want to live with me. I think that me being stubborn is only to be expected, Mr. I'm-not-L-but-I-like-to-act-like-I-am-because-I-really-am-him."
"Hm… I suppose you are correct to be worried. Yet I believe that my word overrides Raito-kun's nonetheless."
"You're insane. For all I know, you're doing this to me."
"No, this person is insane. I am trying to be protective. And trust me Raito-kun, if I wanted to stalk you, I would not be so obvious about it."
"Oh dear Lord, I can't win with you, can I?"
"No, Raito-kun, you cannot." L stuck a thumb in between his lips as he nibbled on the digit delightfully. "And quite frankly, I doubt you ever will."
Disclaimer: I don't own "MICHISHIRUBE" by Miyamoto Shunichi, which was an awesome request by my beta, Kitsune55. She's on fire with these damn songs! XD The note, of course, was my own words. Yay?
Here's the next chapter! Many thanks to Kitsune55 for beta-ing (And look, the scene is out! Hopefully, the one I put in is a lot better!) and thanks to you guys for reading! See ya soon!