Disclaimer: I don't own death note.
Chapter 11
Inequality
Yumi couldn't wait for her best friend's birthday, but once the excitement had worn down a bit, she saw the problem that should have been clear from the beginning.
She had no gift.
When she thought back on past years, she realized that she had never gotten Lawliet anything. When he had turned eight, they had just taken up a difficult case and were completely absorbed in solving it, the birthday had been forgotten in the stress of a case that they couldn't solve right away.
When he had turned nine, Yumi had been preoccupied with the long absence of Mr Wammy, who had gone to America for a case and had been gone longer then he had said he would be. Both children were worried, and by the time he had returned the birthday was a week behind them.
It now seemed like every year that Yumi tried to celebrate her friend's birthday, something came up that caused her to forget it just long enough to be too late. This year though, she would celebrate his birthday with him, which brought her back to the no gift problem.
It wasn't fair, he was her best friend but he made her feel so useless, he always knew what to get her for her birthday, and Christmas, and any other holiday that she could receive gifts for. He was just so good at knowing what she wanted, but she didn't have any idea what to get him!
There had to be something he needed, or at least wanted... wait.... was that it?... had she found.... a gift.... yes she had she would get him-
"Yumi? Class is over, we have more work to do on the case. Yumi? Are you ok?" Lawliet punctured her thoughts, she gripped the table edge hard while she tried to control her anger. He had made her forget her idea!
"Hello? Yumi? Are you alright?" he asked her again a little worried.
"I'm. Fine." she said taking deep breaths, she couldn't remember her idea, and it had been perfect!
"Ok, then can we get back to the case?" Lawliet asked.
"Yes, we can." Yumi said as her anger subsided, there was no point in being mad at him, he hadn't done it on purpose.
His birthday was in one week and she still had no ideas, and even more then that, the tennis match that she had entered them in was in two days. Between the match and the case they were on Yumi would have no time to look for a gift, she sighed in disappointment, she couldn't miss his birthday for no reason.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Lawliet asked leaning toward her on the bed, they were both sitting on the bed, Lawliet in his strange position, while they worked on the latest case. Papers were covering every inch of the mattress so they were sitting on the very edges with Lawliet near the pillow and Yumi at the foot of the blankets.
"I'm fine." she insisted, she couldn't tell him she had no gift.
"Well then, why don't you answer my question? Which suspect seems more guilty?" he asked.
"They both seem guilty, maybe their working together?" Yumi answered, she was still distracted by the gift problem.
"Perhaps..." Lawliet trailed off as he began reassessing the evidence.
Yumi sighed again, this was hopeless...
... and to make things worse, the tennis match arrived in no time at all. While she was so distracted by her dilemma the tennis match had lost it's appeal to her, she considered dropping out, but decided that dropping out could make Lawliet more suspicious.
Mr Wammy drove them to the park, and they spent the remaining hour before the match practicing. Yumi tried to concentrate on the ball but she was to preoccupied by the approaching birthday.
The ball flew past her several times before she noticed that Lawliet had served it. This was bad, she redoubled her efforts to focus and was rewarded with a game where she wasn't missing every shot. Not long after that, the real matches began. Lawliet was up first against a boy who seemed to have no problem countering his moves at first. Then as the match dragged on, the other boy got tired, which cost him the match.
Lawliet wasn't tired at all and Yumi began to worry that he would beat her when they played a round. She was up next and had to try hard not to lose focus. She pushed the thoughts of Lawliet's birthday to the back of her mind while she tried to play. She must have gotten lucky because her opponent had a hard time predicting her moves, the match ended with Yumi as the winner.
"Good job." Lawliet said as Yumi sat down next to him.
"You too." she answered him.
The matches continued for two hours until only four players were left, they were going to the next round. Yumi and Lawliet were two of the four, the other two were a boy who looked like he was half noodle, he was the champ from last year, and a girl who was constantly pushing her glasses further up her nose.
They drove home with Mr Wammy and went strait to Lawliet's room. Yumi was still thinking about the birthday problem, Lawliet was trying to solve the case they had been working on in time for the next tennis match, and if Yumi hadn't known him better she would have thought he was enjoying the game.
It was late at night when they solved the case, and Yumi had the strange and rare need to sleep, she said good night to Lawliet once the file had been filled out and went to her room to sleep. She lay in bed thinking of Lawliet and gifts and tennis and cases until her eyes wouldn't stay open anymore.
The sun was up when she opened her eyes again, and she briefly wondered how night could have ended in one blink, but that was before she noticed Lawliet on her bed.
"What are you doing?" she asked her voice still sounded like sleep.
"You slept in, I came to wake you." he said matter of factly.
"We don't have classes, it's Sunday." she said as she tried to adjust her eyes to the new light.
"We do have a case though." he said.
"You already got a new one?" she asked in disbelief.
"No... but I will... later." he said.
What? "Then what's the point of waking me up now?" she asked, then realized that the question sounded a bit mean.
"I wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk in the park, maybe we can practice for Wednesday's match." he said shyly, he had never asked to go outside before.
"You... want to practice? Ok." he said trying to get up only to realize that Lawliet was sitting on her legs. He noticed the problem at the same time and climbed off the bed.
In a few minutes they were in the car and were pulling out of the driveway. They got to the park at about ten, which made Yumi even more aware of how late she had slept in.
They walked around the park a few times then headed to the tennis courts, after a few "practice" games they had warmed up enough to play a few rounds, Lawliet won the first game then Yumi beat him the second game, they were in the middle of a third when a rain drop fell onto the tip of Yumi's nose.
She ignored it at first but another followed, the distraction was enough and Lawliet smacked the ball over the net, and onto the ground, winning another match for Lawliet. They had to stop as the rain began to fall, and they had to take cover in the park gazebo.
The tiled roof of the gazebo kept them dry, and they had managed to reach shelter before the bulk of the storm hit. Whitewashed benches surrounded the inner perimeter of the wall-less building so they could sit and wait for the storm to subside.
The trees blew in the wind and leaves flew into the gazebo, but the rain couldn't reach the two refugees.
"Hey, Lawliet?"
"Yes?"
"What do you want for your birthday?"
"I don't need anything."
"Yes I know, but what do you want?"
"Nothing."
"There has to be something."
"No."
"Well I'm getting you something whether you want it or not, but I don't know what it is yet."
"Stop trying, I don't need anything."
"Yes but you have to want something."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No."
"Yes."
"No-"
"Well it doesn't matter anyway, I'm still getting you something."
"Fine."
"So you can either help me or- wait what?"
"I said fine, you can get me something."
"Oh ok thanks."
"But I wont tell you what I want."
"That's not fair."
"Yes it is."
"Hmm..."
"What?"
"Wouldn't you want to know?"
So would I, Yumi thought to herself, turning away.
"What about new clothes?" she asked after a minute.
"What?"
"New clothes."
"I said I wouldn't tell you."
"Well how about this: if I guess something you want you have to tell me you want it."
He thought for a moment. "Alright, if you guess it first."
"Ok, so, new clothes?"
"No."
"Hmm... a book?"
"What book?"
"Uh... I don't know."
"Then how am I expected to answer?"
"Fine, a puzzle?"
"Maybe."
"That's not an answer."
"Yes it is, it means your getting close."
"Oh..."
"Hey, the rain stopped."
"Your right."
"Lets get back before it starts again."
"Ok."
"A word game?"
"No."
"Well, I'll find it."
"Maybe not."
"Oh yes I will, I can feel it!"
"Best of luck then."
"Thanks."
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author's note: thanks for reading this far. I didn't get to update yesterday, because there was something else I had to do, but here it is. Thanks again for reading and thanks for the reviews!
