A/N: Damn y'all this one just flew out of me. I swear I had none of it typed up in advance but as soon as I got passed the reunion I knew exactly what needed to happen next, which was super refreshing. A quick note on where we are: I have the whole fic timeline written out in a journal that I cross-referenced with the manga timeline. So, I know that all of this is happening around April of 2004, which means the To-Oh Acceptance ceremony has already happened and the tennis match is coming up (next chapter in fact, but you didn't hear that from me). I know that I haven't been too explicit with where we are since running into Light a few chapters ago, but I don't just want to spout exposition that you all already know because you've seen the series. So, I wanted to give you a heads up.
Tl;dr: probably don't get comfortable to quick updates like this? and the in-universe date is April 6, 2004.
Chapter Nine | Acclimation
After the initial shock, L was fairly quick to compose himself. Not that Kaye had expected anything different. His composure had always been the result of his discomfort with displaying his own emotions—he had them, frequently, but advertising them had never come easy. The past she had spent so long moving on from lay too close to the present for Kaye's comfort; she was being reminded of everything too quickly, and as soon as she was sure he wasn't about to go into clinical shock right in front of her, she'd attempted to replace the distance between them.
He reached out and gently kept her in place with a feather-light touch to her elbow.
She stopped.
"You've been investigating Kira with Naomi Misora." Of course, it wasn't a question; she'd bet the change in her pocket that he figured as much as soon as he realized… Well, that she was alive. "How long?"
"Since he killed the FBI agents," she replied. Neither one of them were speaking above a quiet murmur. "Apparently, her fiancé was one of them."
L nodded once. "Raye Penber, yes. But that was back in January. Is there a reason you waited so long to get in touch?"
Kaye bit her lip. Briefly, she tried to make eye-contact, but instead looked at the wall behind him. "A few."
Kaye thought that four years ago, it would have been impossible for the two of them to sit in an awkward silence. Most silences back then had been companionable, and importantly on purpose. If neither of them was speaking it had always been because they were both choosing not to. But it was clear that L did not know how to respond to her comment, and there was no way that she was prepared to elaborate.
Eventually, he let her elbow go, his hand trailing down the side of her forearm as he let it drop to his side, and tucked it back into his pocket. "What changed?"
"Right!" Kaye was eager to power through the awkward part of the conversation, and it was past time they move on to her reason for visiting. "Someone's tapped mine and Misora's hotel room. She's just been in hospital for a broken elbow, and I'm worried about leaving her there any longer than I have to, but I'm even more concerned that whoever tapped our room might be connected to Kira somehow," she took a deep breath. "I couldn't think of who else might be able to help us with something like this."
He studied her for a moment, then inexplicably the corner of his mouth began to rise. Kaye didn't think he even noticed it happening, as the rest of his face did not follow suit. It was a creepy sort of look, but familiar in its own way.
"I've missed something," she said. "You're giving me a look like I've missed something."
"You have. Watari was the one that bugged Miss Misora's room. He didn't know about you sharing it, of course, but both of us were aware that Miss Misora had had an…accident. We thought it would be the easiest way to keep updated on her condition; she agreed to work with us."
"When?"
"Earlier this afternoon."
Kaye rubbed her hands down her face. "So, earlier today. You ran into Naomi?"
"Mmm, quite literally."
Kaye's thought process had to do a bit of mental gymnastics at that point. If she was remembering his manner correctly, L was hinting around something—something he was reluctant to divulge, but not unwilling to…provided she could work out what he was implying. "You….'literally?' You aren't the reason she was in hospital, are you?"
"Not me," he said, "Watari. In any case, we are aware of the bugs, and of Miss Misora's desire to join the Kira Task Force."
Kaye began nodding. "Great. Fantastic. You know you can't just bug people's hotel rooms like that."
L shrugged. "I'm taking all the precautions I feel are necessary. Kira is a different kind of criminal; I did not want to risk Miss Misora once I knew she wanted to...play."
"You still can't bug people's hotel rooms like that," she insisted. "I know you know you can't just do things like that. And even if it was part of wanting to 'play,'" she placed air quotes around the word, "I never consented to be a part of it."
L turned sharply to face her. She hadn't noticed that they'd drifted away from one another during the conversation, but she was grateful for the extra space. His attention had always been intense, and she found that she was not as used to it as she once was. She kept accidentally making eye contact with him and looking away too quickly to be causal.
"Don't you?"
"Don't I what?"
"You are more than welcome to occupy a position on the Task Force, K."
Her head tilted, uncomprehending. And she realized, quite suddenly, that she had not thought past this point seriously. There had never been a part of her that considered what it would be like if she joined the Task Force. At best, she had probably hoped that she would be allowed to hang around, and even then, not without her having to strong-arm her way there. That had been fine by her. Because he wasn't supposed to want her there. He left. He couldn't want her there.
"Naturally, Watari rented the whole floor—you can choose any room along the hall to stay in. We plan to extend the same offer to Miss Misora."
Kaye did little more than stare at him.
L stared back and blinked owlishly at her a few times. "Unless…" He trailed off. Started again. This time he actually asked a question. "If you'd rather continue to make your own accommodations?"
"You…you want me around? For the investigation?"
She had not been prepared for that. Had not been prepared to be welcomed around at all, much less as a part of the actual investigation. Kaye had spent so much time psyching herself up and sealing away her underlying desire to make sure L was safe, so that when he finally rejected her presence again she could save herself some time and heartache.
And here he was, barely asking if she wanted to be a part of the Task Force. Assuming she would be, as though there were no other option.
It was perplexing.
"You were always around for the investigations," he said.
Then again, she hadn't been prepared to be dead either.
It was easier to ignore that than it was formulate a response. So, she ignored it. "Um," she stuttered, "I-I'll ask Naomi about it. I should probably go get her actually."
"Yes. I suppose you should. Please, come back tomorrow morning; we have…there is a lot for you both to catch up on."
Kaye had only ever seen L this tripped up on a few occasions, and most of those had been when they were teenagers. To his credit, he was hiding it admirably, far better than she was anyway. The atmosphere in the room teetered between being too formal for their history, and too overly-familiar for her comfort level; she wanted to escape the room as soon as possible just so she could remember what to do with her hands.
Then someone knocked at the door.
Kaye made a strangled sort of sound in her throat.
"Is everything alright in there Ryuzaki?" Watari's voice was composed, but Kaye could discern a note of steely concern even through the door. Suddenly, she was six years old. At the bottom of the stairs with a twisted ankle, oh so worried about the vase she'd broken; Watari had stood over her that day and asked if she was okay in the same tone.
"You really are using that name?" she asked L, though the words kept catching in her throat and her eyes remained locked on the wood behind him.
L raised an eyebrow at her and called through the door. "Please come in, Watari."
This reunion was the one Kaye had not realized she'd needed. Watari opened the door casually, a question halfway asked before he stopped behind L in the open doorway. She watched a look of disbelief slacken his face, and the rest of his question trailed off.
"Mr. Wammy?" As soon as L had begun to take on higher profile cases, they had only referred to him as Watari. But before he had been L's handler for detective work, he'd been Mr. Wammy.
Watari's hand was no longer on the door handle, because he had come all the way into the room now—past L—to wrap her up in a bone-crushing squeeze. He smelled lightly of bakeries and old books and every memory she had of her childhood.
Kaye cried.
-:-
She was hollow when she finally left.
Not empty, and not exactly relieved either, just…hollow, like coming down from an adrenaline rush and being shaky and weightless afterword. She had gone through so much trouble being anxious and stubborn and over-thoughtful, and now the aftermath was devoid of the only feelings she'd had since December. Her mind needed a moment or two (or twelve) to acclimate.
Naomi was standing on the curb when Kaye made it back to their hotel. She looked far more lucid than when Kaye had left—she was awake for one thing.
"Should probably stay away from these," Kaye said as she approached. She balanced on the curb. The tease felt flat in the air, but she was sure that was just her perception of it. Nothing seemed real to her right then.
Naomi smiled at her and adjusted her sling. "Maybe," she allowed taking a pointed step away from the road. She held Kaye's note between her fingers. Don't panic. Don't follow. Lots of insects in the room. Headed to our friend to ask about it. "Did you tell you-know-who about the bugs?"
"Yeah," Kaye said. "Yeah, turns out it was him."
"…You okay?"
"I think so." She paused. "He and Watari want us to move to headquarters tomorrow morning." Kaye met Naomi's gaze. It was an admission, an apology for not listening to Naomi. That she was wrong for not going to the police again—not quite, but close. The other woman's eyes were kind, and she was smiling a forgiveness for what Kaye hadn't quite formatted yet.
"Both of us? So, he doesn't mind you being around after all?"
Kaye took a deep breath and blew it out steadily in an effort to anchor herself before answering. "Mm, wild misunderstanding all that, as it turns out. Haven't decided how to feel about it to be perfectly honest. Er. Never did get around to telling him about your Kira suspicions though, so, you still get to do that."
It was not the smoothest way to transition, but Naomi accepted it anyway. "Early start tomorrow then?" she asked, beginning the walk back to the hotel.
Kaye nodded. "Early start tomorrow."
-:-
It would not be remarkably easy for Kaye and L to fall back into a routine together. This was not something that became immediately apparent to Kaye.
It had occurred to her briefly once they'd arrived that morning. Naomi had received a call from Watari at five o'clock, and they had shown up promptly at five thirty, zombie-eyed. They helped themselves to some coffee, and Naomi had settled in to explain their side of the investigation to L while Kaye tided the counter.
"Light Yagami is your number one suspect?" Naomi questioned. "NPA Superintendent's son Light Yagami?"
L gave them both a curious glance. "The same. I imagine if you know of him he is on your list of suspects as well. Especially, considering the information you brought—that Kira doesn't need a heart attack to kill? —it places him under further suspicion."
Kaye drank deeply from her coffee mug, moving to join them in the sitting room. "We know Light Yagami because we ran into him at the NPA. He lied about being a member of the Task Force, but we haven't seen him since." She considered this for a moment, leaning a hip against the back of Naomi's chair. "Unless, you did make him part of the Task Force for some reason?"
L drew his knees up in his seat. "It is something I've considered. The best way to draw Kira out is to engage directly, and on the off chance that he isn't Kira, Light would be a real asset to the investigative force."
"I don't like that," she said.
"Neither does Watari."
"It begs the question though," Naomi interrupted, "why did he lie? If he were Kira it would make a lot of sense—we did think he, Kira, was a high school student, and his connection with the Chief Superintendent would give him potential access to less commercial criminals." She sucked in a breath. "And the FBI."
L levered himself onto the balls of his feet, so he perched in the chair. Kaye had forgotten he did that. "As well as the Yagami household being on the Space World bus route." He hummed. "He fits Kira's profile in almost every respect, but all of this is circumstantial. We need better evidence."
A moment of silence passed. Kaye glanced between the other two and imagined she could see the gears turning in their skulls. She took another gulp of coffee—milk, two sugars, the way she'd always taken it.
Naomi groaned. Silence broken. "We won't even have the element of surprise anymore. If Light is Kira, he'll know everything we just told you. God, I'm such an idiot; I should've known to keep it to myself." She leaned forward and cradled her head between her hands.
Kaye nudged her with an elbow. "You were desperate, not dumb."
"What's done is done," L said. "We'll just have to be more careful from now on. What aliases did you give him? We will need to proceed as though those are your real names; I trust this Task Force, but your identities must remain secret if there is even the slightest possibility either of you will come into further contact with Light Yagami."
What made her question her belonging was the fact that Watari had chosen that moment to arrive and asked where the sugar was. Innocuous, but that implied Kaye had put it back in the wrong spot, which threw her even as she re-familiarized herself with the process of how L conducted an investigation. She couldn't remember a time when it didn't go in the cabinet next to the mini-fridge. Kaye couldn't help but feel, suddenly, as though she kept being alienated just as she began to get comfortable. Despite all of that, it was not until L neglected to introduce her to the Kira Task Force, that she was tangibly aware of the gulf between them.
"Everyone," L addressed the Task Force in Japanese, and the part of Kaye that wasn't nervous about all the new people was surprised to find that she was getting better at the language. "I would like to introduce you to Miss Shoko Maki. She has been an associate of mine for quite a few years. Recently, she has retired as a government agent to help us work on the Kira Investigation."
She waited a few beats for her own introduction, but it did not come.
It was like he had forgotten she existed.
The idea that she had ever had much to do with solving their previous cases had forever be up for playful debate between the two of them four years ago. Kaye realistically knew that she had always acted more as moral support than anything else—especially when L didn't need her to act as a liaison. However, in the past, L had made a point to always treat her as though she were vital to whatever operation he was running. "And this is my partner" seemed more attached to her name than any alias that had followed the phrase itself.
This was not four years ago. It was a late morning in 2004, and she stood in the lounge just behind Naomi with the curious gaze of five Kira Task Force members upon her.
The only way out is through, she thought. She threw on a smile and cocked a jaunty hip. "I'm Kaye Tyler! I've been a…civilian consultant of L's since he started this job." Perhaps it was too much—played their relationship too close for this investigation, for these people—but she was not about to let herself be forgotten again. She cemented her place.
L, though he appeared unfazed by her introduction, had a small frown turning down the corners of his mouth. "Yes," he continued as though neither of them had noticed the exclusion, "they have uncovered some valuable information and are planning to remain here to assist the investigation. Both of them have my unconditional trust, so feel free to discuss anything case-related with them."
All eight of the room's occupants regarded one another. Kaye gathered that her and Naomi's late addition made the NPA agents wary, until the oldest gentleman separated himself from the pack.
He bowed to Naomi, and then to her. "A pleasure to meet you, I am Chief Superintendent Yagami. I look forward to working with you both."
And just like that she and Naomi Misora were welcomed on to the Kira Task Force.