CHAPTER TEN:
"The Red Dragon"
"You wish to leave the Yukaza?" Light voiced, a little shocked. He wondered if this had anything to do with him being a member of the NPA. She had no idea that the NPA disavowed everyone involved within the Kira Task Force. Maybe she thought with his connections, he could somehow get her out. She wanting to question him on a more in-depth level now made more sense. "But I thought you said no one leaves? That Terrance Claw will kill anyone who tries?"
"Yes, he will, but you work for the NPA. You have connections, right?"
He assumed correctly. But after everything she'd done to him, why would he help this bitch? Without access to the outside, apart from whatever underground communications there were down here, there was no possible way. But he would play to her want to leave and then manipulate her into helping him find a way out instead.
However, it was personal now. He wanted to destroy the Dragon Sect and Terrance Claw.
So, he would follow through in his plan to get close to the master of the facility, collect names, and then when he escaped, use the Death Note to kill the whole lot of them. It would be Kira's magnum opus.
No one fucks with Kira!
"I assume all communications are monitored, correct?" She nodded. "Then we'll have to find another way. I'll still make my offer to work for the Dragon Sect, and through these means, we'll both find a way to escape this place." He lied.
"Terrance Claw will be highly suspicious of you. He already has a complete profile of your affiliations, and because you're a member of the NPA, he more than likely will want proof of your loyalty. He'll want classified information."
"That can be arranged. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a lot. So, I need you to take me to Terrance Claw."
Light knew the NPA had a department set up just such emergencies. If a captured agent was ever forced to reveal information to an enemy, he/she would use information not known to the public regarding internal affairs of the NPA, and hidden secretly within a DIET parliamentary database regarding police matters which was falsified. However, could he trust that information now with the chief of the NPA known to be a Yukaza spy? Regardless, it was not in the public domain. He also knew other information Terrance Claw would be interested in and it concerned Kira. He could use that if all else failed.
But if the chief of police's position had been compromised, then what other places had been infiltrated by the Yukaza?
"Very well, I'll take you to him," she said with a sigh. "But I don't like it. He has this uncanny ability to know when someone is lying to him. The previous Mistress—the woman before me—was executed because she lied to him about some manner; failed. I was promoted soon afterwards. I then promoted Riki as my Prime Assistant."
Light jingled the chain to his shackles, stating the obvious, that he couldn't leave unless he was released.
Tigressa reached into a hidden pocket in her dress and produced a key, then unlocked the shackles. He edged off the bed, holding the silk sheet to his body. As if that was necessary, she had already seen everything he had to offer.
Walking to a hidden closet in the wall, she opened a door and showed him a complete wardrobe he could choose from. Her clothes took up most of the walk-in closest, but there was a collection of men's clothes too.
Light went over, walked in, and glanced around at the clothes hung on racks, shoes on the floor, belts on shelves, different varieties of underwear, and pants pressed and hanging on coat hangers. On one shelf there was even a men's shaving kit.
She said, "Master Claw prefers his 'guests' to dress well while in his attendance. You can choose anything you like. You're not the only person I've had to present before Master Claw, so I hope something fits you? You're taller than most."
"Can I take a shower first? After everything, I want to be at my best when I meet Terrance Claw."
Tigressa smirked. "You sound just like some secret agent preparing to met an arch-villain."
In a way, she was correct. But he laughed. "No, I'm just this way in real life. Sloppiness is not my forte."
Light took a shower and shaved. He wasn't watched, but he didn't plan on doing anything. When he exited the on-suite bathroom, he had a towel wrapped around his waist and dried his hair with another. Tigressa was not in the bedroom, but the doors to the living quarters were open, and looking around, there was no other way out except for this way. So, if he tried to escape on his own, she'd spot him. However, he had no intention of running anywhere wearing only a towel.
He went into the walk-in closet and sifted through the collection of clothes, looking at the sizes. Most of them were too small for him and he was starting to think he'd never find anything his size and half descent. Then, he came across a black dress shirt and matching pants. He also found a black jacket beautifully embroiled with a red dragon (Ryu) wound around its shoulders and chest. It was quite intense, but he was inside the Dragon Sect after all and it was suiting. And it matched the ensemble.
Choosing a sealed packaged pair of underwear, oddly enough, she had his size of jockeys in stock, and they were black, he slipped them on. Black seemed to fit the theme. He tried everything on in front of a mirror in the closest and things fit like a glove. He put on a belt underneath the jacket and a pair of black dress shoes to conclude it all. He wished he had his watch.
He walked out and in the bedroom, and Tigressa had just entered from the living quarters. She stopped short and stunned. "I approve, Light. Very becoming, you look good in black. It suits you. And the dragon jacket is a nice touch."
"I've always thought so," he smirked, he straightened his jacket cuffs.
She went over to him, and in her hands was a gold chain with the symbol for the Dragon Sect. She put it over Light's head and positioned it over his chest. Had she left to get this?
"Master Claw will find you more convincing if you completely embrace the Sect," she said.
He cupped it in his hand and he agreed. He had to play to the role.
Suddenly, she froze when a couple of knocks came at her private quarters door.
"Are you expecting anymore?"
She shook her head. She went to answer the door to her quarters and Riki stood on the other side. She fell into the role of Mistress Tigressa immediately. "Yes, Riki?"
"Sorry for the interruption, Mistress," he said. "I came here to inform you of that Master Claw…" He suddenly gasped, looking beyond her.
She turned, Light Yagami had walked out into the open as if wanting to be noticed. He stood tall and confident, adjusting the collar of his dragon jacket—as if what he had gone through on eighteen hours before was nothing.
Tigressa looked back to Riki, the teen looked shocked.
Tigressa had had brought a few people to her quarters, some men, some women, but only by the authority of the Master for proper dress to attend personal meetings with Master Claw. Plus, they were thoroughly guarded. But there were no guards.
"This is unorthodox," Riki remarked. "Why is he here in your private quarters and unguarded?" Riki appeared to have caught his folly. "I'm sorry, it's not my place to question you, Mistress. Forgive my impertinence."
"Light Yagami is my guest, Riki," she explained. Light now had his hands at his sides. "Master Claw wishes to speak with me, and has invited the detective to join us. I am to watch him."
Riki blinked, but his shock seemed to narrow down into a form of jealously, Light observed. He eyed Light with a disconcerting look. Then he turned back to Tigressa. "I was also informed of this request by the men who brought the detective in. They asked if I could relay the same message to you. You obviously received the message before me."
"Yes, I was told," she lied. "We were about to depart for the Arboretum Gardens to see the Master in the few minutes."
"Ah, then I will depart and continue other duties," Riki turned, and seemed to leave quickly.
She shut the door. "He likes you, I got the impression," Light said with a thin smile. "Similar to a son and a mother, and he gave me a nasty look like I was a new suitor to replace a fatherly figure."
"I'm his Mistress, our relationship isn't like that. It's purely professional."
"Do you treat him any differently than any of the others under you hospice?"
"Well, yes. He is my Prime Assistant, and he has a partner, per se. But he never addressed their relationship to be anything more than a convenience, he lives with another named Aiden. Aiden is a Second Assistant, who aids in several tasks throughout the Den. The Residential Distinct has limited space, so many share quarters." She quickly went through the hierarchy of the Den and Light was impressed that it was run with such order, much like a political body. "But I believe Aiden is much more to him."
Light nodded, and didn't need to have it explained further. Riki was only a year younger than Light. At first, he was uncomfortable with the life choice, but after everything he had recently experienced, it didn't bother him anymore.
But, he still vowed the teen would pay for what he'd done.
"It looks like we now have a personal invitation from the Master," she said.
"That was convenient." But he had a feeling Terrance Claw would request him sooner of later with Light's skills. "Now I'll be able to present my offer to Terrance Claw with more confidence. But Riki only said Terrance Claw wants to see you, there was nothing in the message about me. But I'm sure he'll be interested in what I have to offer him. But, I'm sure, he already knows I'm coming."
"How do you know that?"
Light went over to one of her paintings. It was a surreal paining of a Japanese Edo period landscape. If Light recalled, the Edo period encompassed the beginning of the seventeenth and ended in the later half of the nineteenth centuries. It was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate and its many powerful feudal lords. It was an era of economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, establishing a stable population, with the motto: "No More Wars". However, that wasn't what Light was indicating which suited the piece. In the eye of the feudal lord was a miniature camera. He had noticed it a while ago.
"I'm trained to see things that go unnoticed by others, it's my job," and he pointed to the camera. She looked closer and suddenly became very angry, she was being spied upon. She wondered how long it had this being there? She had never noticed it.
"It would appear that privacy is not a virtue in your Master's world," Light said.
To be continued...