A/N: Thank you to Oderas for the consult, and helping me sort through this mess!
I also realized I should probably put my replies at the beginning of the chapter, for the comments of the last chapter. The formatting for this story is beyond screwed, which says a lot about the person writing it. Anyway thanks for the comments!
alexc123: Thank you much. I'm glad you're enjoying this!
InsanityChaos: ;) We shall see…
HoldOntoYourHats: Awe shucks… and that's why I wrote this. I tried to create a character with agency and weight to throw a wrench into the plot of Death Note and see what I could do with it. I'm glad to hear its caught your interest do far. I hope I do not disappoint. I'd feel like shit.
She couldn't rise. Not of her own accord. Daichi's blood had seeped underneath, and, as time passed, sealed her to the surface. So they peeled her off the carpet: Two officers knelt and lifted. She was light, like feathers.
The officer on her left took her wrists and slipped them into handcuffs. She stared at the telephone. The one to her right commented, "She's, like, catatonic, or something." Which, of course, she couldn't hear. The one who had handcuffed her, wrapped a green, felt, blanket around her shoulders.
What is this? She couldn't look at the faces of the officers.
One explained, "Miss, we'll take you down to the office." And smiled, "Don't worry, it'll all be over shortly."
It was the gash on her face, and the fingertip bruises on her arms, wasn't it?
And how they found her, there, on the floor: Still, next to him.
She asked, "Don't you know what I did?" They didn't seem to hear her. Was her voice was broken too?
An elderly officer approached the man to the right, because he did the talking, and leant in close. Opal couldn't hear a word. She looked off to Daichi. Someone, a woman, with oily hair was crouched over his body snapping pictures.
The man on her left clarified, "Chief Yagami himself?"
Opal looked over to her right, from each face, young to old. The young officer nodded in understanding: The men subsequently let her go, and the elderly officer took her arm, "I need you to come with me Ms. Kobayashi." She looked up into the elderly officer's face. He was smiling. Opal frowned: His was the most well-mannered grin she'd ever seen.
"What, why?" She strained to look back at the scene; at the officers setting down yellow markers and unrolling yellow tape. (Police Line Do Not Cross). Crossing lines was never something Opal gave too much care too, but she swore not to cross back over that one.
He leant to speak low, into her ear, "It's not safe here. We need to get you to the department."
Opal examined the face of the man. If it were anyone else, how she would have ran, until breathless. There was something about the way his features rested. It kept her at ease. She let him take her to a black car out back and buckle her into a backseat. Her agency entirely removed. She watched his lined face in the rear-view. They took turns deep into the city. They were going round about the Police Department, she realized.
He was trying not to drive past it; trying not to alarm her.
The alarms rung out, loud.
Opal pulled at the handcuffs. She whined.
Watery, blue eyes regarded her in the rear view. "My name is Watari. I'm taking you to a holding site, which is separate from the main department. There is no reason to be alarmed."
Opal kept fighting her restraints. Giving them a solid shake, before falling back in her seat. Her skin, under the metal cuffs, bloomed pink.
Watari said, "I do believe you and I share a similar taste in music." He glanced down and punched a button. He left the volume low. It was Mozart.
"Who do you work for?" She couldn't focus on the music. All she could sense was the silence on her right side, and the stinging of her wrists.
"I work for a man known as 'L'. He is concerned for your safety and requested I retrieve and transport you to where he is waiting."
She let a bitter laugh, "Concerned for my safety. Is 'L' Mello's real name?"
"L is not Mello," Watari assured.
"Uh-huh," Opal leant her forehead against the tinted window.
They descended into an underground parking complex. Wound down and down, until he stopped and parked next to an elevator. He walked around the back of the car and opened the door for her, taking her arm and guiding her toward the elevator doors. They stood and waited for the thing, listening to the muffled underground and floor- tracking tones.
"You can clean up, in there." Watari gestured to the bathroom, once inside, and past security.
"Thanks, "Opal shut herself in. A grey hoodie and sweatpants were folded on the toilet, across from a combination shower, bathtub. Opal sat on its edge, and plugged in the drain. She let the water run and fill the tub. On the edge there was a bottle of men's body wash. She dispensed the pearlescent liquid over the stream of water, and it bubbled; filling the air with a scent called Mountain Spring. Opal had never inhaled a real life mountain spring, but the bottled variety made her eyes water, for a moment.
She peeled off she sleepwear; let it fall to the floor and stepped out of it. She dipped her toe into the vat, then bit her lip. The mirror clouded. She closed her eyes, and settled in to marinate in the serenity. God, how she needed this.
She took stock of her situation: Daichi was dead. That was a fact she couldn't get over. Mello was after her. She couldn't be the accessory any longer. And Light couldn't help her. She looked at toes, poking through the bubbles. Would he even bother to help her? Would he see the necessity in her actions? She pressed her hands over her face. Would he just kill her? Even if he didn't see her as a criminal—now that she was useless?
There was a knock on the door. Matsuda said, "Ms. Kobayashi, I've been told to remind you that Ryuzaki is waiting to speak with you."
He heard the sound of disturbed water, as she stood. She said, "I'll be out."
"I'll let Ryuzaki know," he said into the crack between the door and frame, eyes cast down.
Opal sighed. That was 'L' wasn't it? She muttered, "by any other name."
"Sorry. What's that?" He turned his ear closer to the door.
"Nothing, thank you."
"Not a problem." She could see the shadow of his feet beneath the door. She pulled on the clothes, then swung it open. A mass of grey cotton and slick black hair. Water ran to the ends and darkened the grey cotton to black.
He smiled, "Come with me."
She stepped, bare foot, across the linoleum floor, after him. He took her into a room with two chairs set on either side of a table. Fluorescents lit the place flat.
"Have a seat. We'll just be a moment." Matsuda left her standing there. She settled in, after he was gone, covering her mouth as she yawned.
L sat in the common area of the Kira headquarters. He stacked ladyfingers, one on top of the other. The pile was five high. "Matsuda I want you to interview her."
"What?" Matsuda flushed, hand rubbing the back of his head. "I really don't think—shouldn't you be the one to, you know. What I mean is, I'm not sure I know the questions to ask. I've never interviewed a suspect on my own before."
Seven high. His record was eleven. "You are interrogating her as a suspect in the death of Daichi Kobayashi, nothing more. Just ask her what you want to know."
"I guess."
Eight high. "So, what are you waiting for?"
Matsuda tensed, "You mean, I just go in?"
"Yes. We'll be monitoring you via video and audio feed, so don't say anything stupid." Ten; he stuck his tongue out in concentration.
"Way to encourage the guy," Aizawa interjected.
"I have every faith in you, Matsuda. If I doubted your capabilities, I wouldn't be entrusting you with handling this interrogation." The pile tumbled, as he placed the eleventh ladyfinger. One fell to the floor and snapped in two.
Matsuda sat across from her. "We require your account of things."
Opal noticed the empty grey, space between them. "You're not going to write anything down?"
"This room has audio recording, and video."
She glanced around the room. "Where do you want me to start?"
"Please state your name, for the record."
"Opal Kobayashi. What's your name?"
He hesitated. What was she doing; asking questions? "Matsuda. Now Opal, we received reports of your missing. The report was filed by your husband. Can you please say where you were?"
"I was kidnapped. I don't know exactly where I was. The country somewhere." Opal's shirt was stuck to her chest, from the water contained in her hair.
Matsuda shifted in his seat, "could you provide a description of your kidnappers?"
"There was a red head, Matt. He's dead. And Mello Marcolini, although I'm not sure that's his name."
"Okay, do you know why they kidnapped you?"
"They were after my husband." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "They said they needed me as 'incentive'."
"That's terrifying."
"They weren't cruel to me." She shook her head. "And Daichi came with two other men to rescue me. He didn't give Mello a chance."
"A chance to do what?" Matsuda swallowed.
"He wanted to threaten me, to get Daichi to reveal some kind of information. I don't know; they were business partners."
"Seems a strange way to treat your business partner's wife." He commented. She shot him a look, not unlike Ryuzaki; a dead stare, which wasn't judgemental, but still had the effect of making him feel like he'd done something stupid. He swallowed. "And then Daichi and yourself returned to your home, following the altercation?"
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
"I," Opal smiled solemnly. "I pushed him. I wanted to know what Mello wanted to know; so I could help him, you know. I just wanted to help."
Her word choice. Matsuda thought back to the tape he heard of that decade old emergency. "Did he threaten you?"
She continued, "I wanted him to trust me. But he didn't, and I offended him. I ran for the liquor cabinet where he kept a gun. He pursued me. I got it. He pulled one from his back pocket."
"Why didn't he pull it sooner?"
Opal looked to the ceiling. "He didn't think he needed too."
"He knew you were going for the gun; why didn't he pull his on you?"
"I don't know. I don't think he wanted to. It would be difficult to deal with. He underestimated," she trailed off.
"What did he underestimate?"
"Me."
"And then you fired in self defense?"
"Yes."
"You thought he was going to shoot?"
"He told me he would 'match fire with fire.'"
He hesitated. "Did he have a history of violence?"
"Well with his profession—
"Was he ever violent with you?"
She touched her wrists, where the skin was bruising, "I never feared for my life, before then."
Matsuda shrugged. "The security footage backs up her story."
L argued, "Not necessarily. Matsuda, she claimed, she was the one who was pushing him." He stuck his fingers into a bag of gummies. He plucked one and examined it, "It could easily be the other way around. In fact, if you watch the man, Mr. Kobayashi, he seems more in distress."
"That makes sense if she was pressing for information."
"She's not worked up at all. If you see; she looks like she's not even listening."
"She did just come back from being kidnapped."
"Her story makes sense: How this Mello kidnapped her, to manipulate her husband." Matsuda added sheepishly, "And the bruises."
"Out of the both of them, he received the more damming injuries, don't you think? Also she entirely skipped over the doctor's visit in her account. I'm not sure what that means."
"I didn't ask her about the visit. And it doesn't matter who got the worse of it. The point is there was an altercation. What I'm saying, is her actions were in self defense."
"That may be true. I understand what you are saying, Matsuda; however, why was she defensive? If we can accept that Mr. Kobayashi was an abusive man, her story is easy to swallow. But it almost goes down to easily." L wiggled his toes.
"You could always talk to her," Aizawa spoke up. He massaged his temples.
"I'm afraid she'll recognize me."
Chief Yagami reasoned, "That might not be a bad thing, Ryuzaki. Sometimes suspects are more willing to disclose details to familiar faces. We do that sometimes, for repeat offenders. It's like establishing a relationship, where the suspect feels more secure by the familiarity."
"I don't usually conduct interviews myself, but you make a decent point, Chief Yagami." L tapped his chin.
He rose and slumped over to the room. He shut himself in and greeted, "Hello, Ms. Kobayashi." He offered her his hand.
She took it, squinted, "I remember you, from the entrance exam. You're Hidaki Ryuga, Light's friend." And working with Light's father, head of the Kira investigation. She crossed her legs, and her arms over her chest.
"It's strange, how things work out." He crawled into the seat opposite.
Opal watched his face. Strange didn't even begin to cover it. Calculated was more like it. "Uh-huh. Did you get in?"
"To the university? Yes, however I'm postponing my studies in order to work full time on the Kira case."
Opal sat up, and folded her hands onto her lap. "Uh-huh."
"I'm here to discuss your claims regarding your husband. Understand, from my perspective, you could easily be flipping the truth, and you are, in fact, the rat."
Opal laughed, "I was never the rat; I learned early on the shattering power of broadcasting other people's secrets."
"You seem to have an easy time telling your husband's."
She lowered her face, "Dead men don't get secrets; in your line of work shouldn't you know that? Besides, the only person shattered is myself."
I wonder, if you are the author, Ms. Kobayashi do you see the men you post as dead men? Dead men walking, sort to speak. He asked, "Why's that?"
She leant forward. "Because I killed him, I'm damned."
L hummed, "I see. Eternal damnation. For the sake of transparency, Ms. Kobayashi, we recovered security footage of the night. You skipped over the visit by a doctor. Why is that?"
Opal frowned. "I didn't realize there were security cameras." This was perfect. "Don't bother him; he's a good man. He has a medical degree. He just lost his licence, unfairly. Took the fall as someone's superior. He helps people who can't go to hospitals."
L didn't blink. He stared; he could see why Light would like her. She could play. "Ms. Kobayashi, the man who captured you is known to this department. He is a threat to you, as far as I am aware. I can hold you here as long as the investigation progresses. I can offer you sanctuary until Mello is not a threat."
"I don't want to be locked up."
"You wouldn't be. As far as the law is concerned you've committed no crime. But I must warn you, you would be under constant surveillance, and I would ask a favour as penance, sort to speak."
Opal nodded. She asked, "What would I do here?"
"As you're aware, we've been having issues with public relations. There's been a copycat and a 'rat'; so we require someone to lower Kira's public standing. We don't have enough people, and all our investigators are preoccupied."
"You want me to disparage Kira?"
"It wouldn't be difficult. I believe reputation isn't a concern for the real Kira, but it might discourage civilians from supporting or contributing to Kira's cause. It just takes time, and like I said our resources, as a unit, are severely limited. Besides Light tells me you're good with computers." He wanted to see if she would pry.
"Light said that? I haven't seen him in months. Is Light helping with your investigation? He told me he has in the past assisted with investigations."
He didn't take his eyes off her. "I guess you could say that: As of now he's interned under my suspicions of his being Kira. He's hoping to clear them."
"Oh." She twiddled her thumbs. "He's a suspect." She frowned. "And since you're talking to me, it means I'm a suspect?"
"Yes."
"You don't think I'm Kira. But you don't trust me. I understand, and because you are sheltering me from the law, and from Mello, I will cooperate entirely." God, it was like her father was speaking through her, with his business sensibilities. "However If I'm going to be staying here, can I just go home, and grab a few personal things." Light must have left something for her, if he knew he was going to be detained. Some kind of instruction.
"I don't think that would be a wise idea."
"Oh." Was she too bold?
L decided, "I'll send Matsuda to pick up some living things."
Matsuda blinked. "What's this?" He asked, as Ryuzaki handed Matsuda a scrap paper.
"Opal's things, she's requested while in our care. If you don't wish to take the hour to do this, you can explain that to Ms. Kobayashi." L crawled back onto his chair. His bag of gummies, had been left open. He took one and squished it. It cracked, stale.
Matsua scratched the back of his head, "The contents of the second drawer from the bottom of the dresser in their bedroom, her blue purse, and the CDs in the living room."
Aizawa sighed. "What are you doing Ryuzaki?"
"She has agreed to cooperate, and this is my show of appreciation. Besides she will be staying here, and I have no reason to withhold her personal property. I do want you to, in addition, seize any personal computer."
Aizawa pointed, "Isn't that obstructing justice, keeping her here; getting the chief to null charges?" He stepped forward. "Ryuzaki, what's gotten into you?"
"Do you still think she's the author?" Matsuda interjected.
"I think it's possible; however, if she has any idea of what she's doing she'll stop posting. She'll become useless to Kira; and then I wonder, what will he do then?"
Aizawa asked, "Is that why you're not charging her? So Kira doesn't have an excuse to kill her?"
"Yes, I suppose you could put it that way." He looked toward the door, where Matsuda loitered, listening. L said, "Matsuda you're still here?"
Matsuda pulled on an overcoat, "right, I'll be back in thirty."
Aizawa spoke with his hands, "And she, based on Ryuzaki's deductions, is the only one who has had knowledgeable contact with Kira. Why don't we just interrogate her, with more force?"
"Mello already tried that."
"There's no signs of torture."
"I'm sure he pointed a gun at her, while she was incapacitated. We are not in the business of torturing suspects for information, without physical evidence. Besides her crimes are less substantial, and I believe if she is the author, she won't be active anymore. If our efforts didn't affect Miss. Amane, I doubt they'll have effect on Ms. Kobayashi."
"She is tough, isn't she?" Matsuda said.
"Yes, that's what I just said." L glanced to him, "I thought you were gone?"
"Right, sorry." And he slipped out the door.
Matsuda returned, two cardboard boxes stacked in his arms. The top one toppled and plastic CDs spilt across the concrete floor. "Dammit."
Aizawa had his feet up on the table. His eyes were scanning the contents of a laptop screen. "You should have just made two trips."
Matsuda blushed and put the CDs back into their cases, then back into the box. "Yeah, I guess."
"She's upstairs, with Ryuzaki and Chief Yagami."
"Thanks."
"Don't worry about it. Hey, do you know where the charger is for this thing?"
"No, I don't."
Aizawa shut the laptop. "That's just great."
Matsuda teetered up the flight of stairs, while Aizawa scoured for a charger. Matsuda tripped up the last step, because he couldn't see his feet, but managed to maintain his centre of gravity so the CDs stayed neat in their box. Ryuzaki and Chief Yagami looked to him. Matsuda peeked out from behind the box. Opal was absent.
"I brought her things," he smiled.
"Thank you Matsuda. She's staying in first room, to the right."
Opal sat at the edge of a single bed, jammed into a corner, suited with scratchy sheets. She couldn't sleep. Sunlight glowed through the translucent curtain. She ached all over, and winced when she rose to answer the door.
"Hey," Matsuda greeted. "I brought what you asked for."
"Thank you."
"I heard we're going to be working together—well in the same place."
"Do you listen to music?" Opal asked.
"Sometimes. I listen to the radio, in the car."
"I think I have something you'll like," Opal started. Matsuda watched her settle cross legged next to the box and carefully rummage through it. She pulled a case, and crawled over to the radio three feet away. She popped open the player and stuck in the CD. She closed it, hit the seek button, then play. A whirr, followed by the opening of "Good Vibrations," by The Beach Boys.
I- I love the colourful clothes she wears.
Matsuda just stood in the doorway. Opal stayed on the floor and watched him listen. Finally, a grin broke across his face. He took one step into the room.
L seemed to phase into existence. He appeared behind Matsuda. He poked his head in. "What is going on in here?"
"Sorry?" Opal asked. She was deafened by the music.
Matsuda leant over to Ryuzaki, "Opal's just showing me some music, she thought I'd like."
"Yes this does seem like the kind of music you'd like. It makes it hard to think."
"Eh? What's that's supposed to mean Ryuzaki?"
"Nothing. They were two separate statements. Ms. Kobayashi would you mind turning the volume down?"
Opal spun the volume low, "Sorry?"
"Thank you."
"Oh," and she laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. She addressed Matsuda, "I guess that means you'll have to come sit closer." She patted the floor next to her and the boom box.
Matsuda back stepped, catching L's eye, "I really need to get back to work; besides aren't you supposed to be resting?"
"Uh huh," Opal hit eject, "well maybe some other time."
"Maybe." He disappeared out the door, and followed L back down the hall.
Opal closed her eyes. There was a hole in her chest, figuratively, and she clutched at it. She bit her lip and the tears stung her eyes and back of her throat. She shook her head. Not again.
She began replacing the CDs into the box. It was uncanny. She opened a pamphlet and flipped through the lyrics, without reading. It felt like a century had passed from last night. It was unreal. Or too real. Both, at the same time.
She stopped: Just to her right, she reached. It was the Chopin CD. The one she had left in his bedroom, forever ago. She picked it up and turned it in her hands. He never returned this.
So why was it here?
A/N: I'm about to abandon the designated anime plot, more or less. Kinda. Huh. Wish me luck. I hope it's entertaining and makes sense! Thanks for reading!