Disclaimer: Not mine.
Chapter Ten: Breaking the News
Even though technically Light didn't live there anymore, he didn't bother to knock. Instead he opened the door with a bright smile and yelled, "I'm home!", as if he were a teenager in high school again. He felt good to be stepping into his parent's house again after being all alone in L's big house.
Immediately his baby sister came running excitedly down the staircase in all smiles, her dark chocolate hair bouncing behind her. "Light! I've missed you!" As she reached him she threw herself onto him, hugging him tight and causing him to almost stumble and lose his balance. Luckily he corrected himself fast, shifting all of his weight onto his good leg as a pain of lightning shoot up his hurt leg. He winced, and said almost breathlessly, "Calm down Sayu. I didn't leave the country for a year."
"I know but I still missed you big brother. You're so busy with school and Ryuzaki that sometimes I think you've forgotten us. Welcome home!" The words warmed him, and he couldn't help but wrap his arms around her small body tighter, returning her hug.
"I missed you too. You know that I could never forget you, Sayu."
Like every girl Light spoke such words to, she melted in his arms. He allowed it as long as she wanted. He saw her rarely and after all, Sayu was his baby sister. He really did miss her. As annoying as she could be at times.
"Light! Honey!"
The teen looked up over Sayu's shoulder to see his sweet mother standing there, smiling, wiping her hands on her apron. He smiled for her, and let his sister go to take his mother into his arms. "Hello, Mother."
"Hello, Light. We were so excited when Sayu told us you were coming."
"I'm glad to be home."
"Light!" Sayu's squeal sent chills up the teen's spine. She's seen it, he thought. And it only took her three minutes.
Harshly the young girl snatched her brother's hand into hers and gazed at the ring in pure fascination. "Is this what it looks like?" Her voice was so high pitched Light almost asked her to be quiet.
His mother's voice, however, was a lot lower as she asked unsure, "Light?"
"Uhm, yeah." He said, his voice shaking with nerves. "Ryuzaki and me are engaged."
"Oh yay!" For a third time his little sister squealed before tackling for another hug. Halfheartedly he returned it as he watched his mother's expression. It was stern at first, then it slowly softened into a bright smile.
"Are you sure you're ready for a commitment so serious, Light?"
"Yeah, Mom. I love him."
"Then…congratulations."
Sayu stepped back so her brother could hug her mom one more time. As she smiled, seeing her family come together, she noticed her father coming from the kitchen. He didn't look so happy as his eyes settled on his only son.
Light let go of his mother as he saw the same sight as Sayu. "Hey Dad."
Soichiro nodded. "You proposed?"
Light shook his head, auburn bangs falling into his eyes. "No. The other way around. He offered me the ring before he left on another case." Light's family knew Ryuzaki to be a detective, but only his father was unaware that the raven haired genius was L. Light had decided a long time ago that as long as his father believed that he and Ryuzaki weren't a real couple because they were two men, then his father didn't deserve to know the full truth.
"I hope you're prepared to move." The Chief of police stated. "As you know that's illegal here."
Light felt like his entire body was so heavy it was sinking through the floor. Why couldn't his dad just say something like, 'I'm happy for you', or 'As long as your happy…' He should know by now that the man in front of him wouldn't ever admit he could be wrong.
"Im prepared for whatever it takes. We just want to be together."
Light's mother began taking off his coat as Sayu burst into "Aww, that's sweet. Very romantic."
"Yes, Romantic." Sachiko agreed. "Supper is ready. Sayu has already set the table. Why don't we all go sit down and eat?"
"Great. You know how I miss your home cooking when I'm gone, Mom."
As they all made their way to the table, Light moved towards his father who gazed at him for a moment, before wrapping his arms around the skinny teen. Light felt relief and his body let go of all the tension. Mikami was right. His father just wants the best for him. "Good to see you, Dad."
"Good too see you too son."
Dinner was great, with Sayu chattering all about school the entire time, before she went down the lane of weddings. "Is it going to be a traditional wedding? What kind of cake, strawberry? Are you going to exchange your own personal, written vows?"
"Well, I haven't thought about-"
"Are you going to wear suits or kimonos? Oh I know, let me help arrange the flowers!"
Light laughed, amused by her enthusiasm. "Calm down a little. Sure, you can help with some stuff." And by some he meant as little as possible. Sayu was a girl, therefore she thought like a girl.
"Those are very good questions." His mother noted. "But more importantly, where are you going to have it? There's a lot to plan and think about when, well…" She stumbled over her words a minute or two before Soichiro interrupted to help.
"You can't have it here in Japan."
Sayu frowned and Light felt rocks form in the pit of his stomach. "Well.." He began. "we haven't given any of that very much thought yet. I mean, he left quickly for a case. We didn't get much talking in about ceremonies or anything like it."
Soichiro nodded, pleased that no actual plans were done yet. Sayu, on the other hand, was very upset. "Aww but Light, you have to give it a lot of thought! I mean, you only get married once. Right dad, mom?"
Sachiko smiled, "Yes, Sayu. Only once."
Soichiro nodded, but let his focus fall down onto his plate.
After dinner, Light's father helped to clear the tale so Light could help Sayu with her math. Light had stood at the bottom of the stair case looking up like it was a mountain. How was he suppose to climb stairs with an aching leg?
He would just have to endure the pain. Carefully, biting the inside of his cheek, Light began following his sister up the stairs. He winced slightly on the fourth step, drawing in a sharp breath.
This didn't go unnoticed by Sayu. "Light? Are you okay?"
"Yeah...Sayu. Just got a small cut, it's alright."
And she reacts the way he expects her too, "A cut? Light! What happened?"
"Hush, Sayu. Be quiet. Don't get Mom all freaked out."
"Ooh, sorry." Her normally squeaky and shill voice turned down to a soft, gentle whisper. "But what happened? Do you need help?"
"No I can walk up a few steps. I'm fine."
The expression on her face showed she didn't believe him. Her brown eyes filled with worry and she took his arm, helping him anyway. "What happened?" She asked again.
He let her help him, just as he had let Mikami. Which simply meant that she forced him to allow her to drag him, "helpfully", up the stairs and into her room where she helped him again by sitting him down on her bed with soft pink and purple blankets.
"Sayu, I'm fine. Really. Just a few stitches."
"Stitches!"
"Sayu, please. Calm down. I don't want Mom to fuss over me."
"Sorry. Can I see?"
He sighed. Here was the morbid side of his baby sister. "No. Now I thought you wanted help with math?"
"I do. But neither of us has ever had stitches. It sounds so cool!"
Light rolled his eyes at her. "Grow up. Now show me the problem, okay?'
It was her turn to sigh now as she walked to her desk and grabbed her school book, turning to the right page. "I don't get it. I never do."
Light studied the problem a moment, then told her the answer. She smiled and wrote it down, but frowned in frustration when he said, "How did I get it?"
"Uhm…I don't know." He smiled and took her pencil from her and wrote out the formula and the bottom of the page. "Follow that formula, then do the next few problems and then I'll check them and see how you did, okay?"
"Okay." She grumbled, sitting beside him and studying the formula.
Light stood and taking a deep breath from the pain, wobbled over to her desk where he sat in her chair. He rubbed his leg with one hand and grabbed the mouse to the computer with the other. He had contractors to look up.
It took him thirty minutes, not too long, to find several worth L's good money. He grabbed a pen with a fuzzy feather on it's end, and scribbled the contractors numbers down on the back of his hand. He then threw the girly pen back down and pulled out his cell phone, dialing the first number.
He spoke with the man quietly, making sure not to bother Sayu. He explained the entire situation, how money was no object, and how he needed the building completed quickly in order for him to receive the A he wanted. The man seemed skeptical until Light pulled out L's credit card and read him the number off the back. When the guy realized the teenager wasn't lying about money being no object, he signed up for the job immediately.
Light smirked. "Thank you, Sir. And you will be finished in three months?"
"Promise. I'll get the job done for ya kid."
"Thank you. I'll call you again."
"I'll be waiting to here from you."
Light hung up and turned to see Sayu standing beside him, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Where did you get that kind of money?"
"It's Ryuzaki's credit card." Her eyes bulged but quickly he shook his head. "No, no Sayu. We have a joint account now. I can use his cards."
"Oh." She thought a minute, then brightened up, "Let me go get you my wish list!"
Light laughed and grabbed her arm to catch her from leaving. "No. Maybe another time. Right now I gotta prove I can handle this much money."
"Fine. But what are you doing? Are you having someone build you a house? Aww is it your wedding present to Ryuzaki?"
Light hadn't thought about a wedding present. Should he buy something for L? Hmm. "It's not a present. It's a school project. A partner and me are suppose to fix up the abandoned homeless shelter down town, for Humanities class. I'm having a contractor do it for us instead."
Sayu's innocent eyes squinted at him. "That's cheating… Isn't it?"
"Not really. The building is dangerous. That's where my stitches came from. See? I'm actually giving charity."
She didn't really buy it. "But your teacher will think you did."
"I know. But everyone at the university has good money. That's how they can afford to go there if they didn't get a scholarship. The teachers know this. They expect half my class to do something similar to get their own projects done."
"But then you're not really learning about humanity, or charity…"
"Sayu." He said frustrated with her honesty. "Do you want a new dress for the wedding ceremony?"
Her eyes sparkled, quickly forgetting her brother's transgression. "A new dress?"
"Mmhm. One that will make you look like Cinderella? I mean after all, Ryuzaki and myself will most likely be in suits. We will both look like princes. We'll need a princess."
"Me! I can be your princess, Light! I want a new dress." He had her right where he wanted her.
"Well, I do have this shiny new card…with, no limit."
Her eyes got even bigger, if it was at all possible. "Really?"
"Really. I could get the dress for you, for say, a wedding present to the sister of the groom. I bet you'd look ravishing in, hmmm, a white ball gown? Silver sparkles and elegant designs?"
"Yes. I think so too."
"Then promise not to tell anyone about my little first time ever cheating?"
She smiled. He had her hook, line and sinker. She was always so predictable. "I promise, big brother. I promise! Like you said, you got hurt. Besides does it matter how the building gets rebuilt as long as it does?"
He nodded. "Yep. So I'll check these problems for you and you can look up the dress you want. Any dress."
"Oh Light!" She hugged him tight enough to squeeze the air out of his lungs.
He wrapped his arms around her petite waist once again and breathed a sigh of relief to be getting rid of Mikami. He was a great guy, but Light had to admit, even though the other college student was nice to him and helped him greatly, Mikami's thick black hair, his dark eyes behind the black rimmed glasses, his thin waist, it was all too tempting as it reminded him of a certain someone he was engaged to…