Author's Notes;;
Alright, so I have an idea for a sequel to Tainted Starlight...but I'm worried because I don't want to ruin TS. I was originally planning on not writing a sequel, unless it would be based on the lives of the twins, but I've got an idea for an actual sequel starring our favorite detective and an ex-murderer. I'm going to make a poll, so please let me know.
So I think I've fixed the Blue Screen of Death problem my computer has been giving me lately, well, fixed it for now anyway. I should really back all my data up, buy an external hard drive, just in case, but…I'm lazy and saving my money for Otakon and other expenses.
ALSO!!! I have put a link to my FictionPress acct on my profile. So, for my original work please go there.
OK. Another note. I do have an idea for a sequel to Tainted Starlight starring your favorite eccentric detective and exploring his roots. I'm going to start a poll. Please vote on whether you think I should write it or not.
GreatCheezyPoofGirl: I MISSED YOU!!! -clings to leg- xD
Faerylark: No, it most certainly wasn't. LOL.
forbalathegreen: Sorry for the delayyy :(
UnratedCrimsonBlood: More paranoid because it's his son. he over-reacts when it comes to his family. :)
Divanora: yeeeeaaaaahhhhh. It was hard to write. lol.
SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE POST. fixed typos and the poll is actually on my page now. sorry it wasn't there before please go vote!!!
Chapter Twelve:
Being ignored by my father was a lot better than the alternative: being glared at and having him scorn me openly. But it still stung. I could tell Ryuuzaki was feeling stressed, and tracking Watari was something that we were working endlessly towards but so far nothing had come up aside from dead-end leads. Well, we'd check them out anyway, that hadn't even needed to be discussed. And I knew we'd be up all night, no, getting as little sleep as possible until we found Watari. We had the phone lines set up in such a way that Aizawa would be able to listen in from the police station, and we were making slow but steady progress. It was late, only Ryuuzaki, Matsuda, Soichiro and myself were left, and then my father asked to speak to me privately.
"He's still my prime suspect in the Kira case, Yagami-san." I turned and stared at Ryuuzaki, resisting the urge to laugh as I knew exactly what my father was going to say – and he'd have every right to say it. And I wasn't disappointed.
"I think, Ryuuzaki, that perhaps your judgment has been impaired." That had been it, and I felt myself getting angry once more. I was exhausted, mentally and physically, and just plain tired of the bullshit. Then again, with anyone else, I was sure their case would be compromised if they had an affair with their suspect. Once more I wondered if this was all some sort of farce, a plan to make me confess to being someone I wasn't, and then Soichiro was speaking once again. "Or perhaps you forced him to, what, fool around with you by promising to clear his name? You do have a tendency to use people!" He pointed accusingly at me, "What did you do to my son?" I looked quickly at Ryuuzaki, noting his usual stoic demeanor, and I wondered how he could remain so calm when my own blood was boiling.
"He didn't do anything to me, Dad!" I mentally flinched at having addressed him as Dad, not Soichiro, but it was past. It was habitual, I supposed. "And stop pointing – it's rude." I glared at him, willing and daring him to deny it, but he didn't and I pressed on. "He didn't promise me anything! In fact…" I took a step closer to Soichiro Yagami, "If anyone did anything to instigate last night it was me." Consider the bomb dropped, I thought, crossing my arms defiantly and letting him know I didn't want to persue this line of talk any further.
He moved closer to me, closing the distance further and I somewhat regretted having moved toward him before, "I will not tolerate that in my family or in my house."
I was proud of myself, I didn't flinch or wince at his bold statement. I wondered, if he couldn't accept this, if he would disown me? I couldn't let him see that his words stung, my family had always mattered to me, but I glanced at the man I loved and…I wanted him to be family, too. I forced a smirk as my eyes narrowed further, "Good thing I'm not living at home then." I watched as he debated hitting me before he stormed out, and I noticed Matsuda wasn't anywhere near and was relieved for that small blessing.
"Light-kun," I heard from him, his voice as demanding as ever. "Why did you do that?" I sat down, debating how to answer him without either freaking him out, scaring him away or having him laugh at me. "Why did you say those things? He is your father, do you" I froze, holding my breath as I waited for him to finish the question, but his thoughts seemed to turn inward and away from me as scenarios and excuses ran through my mind. Should I just push it off as being a teenager? Most teens got into fights with their folks, especially over matters of the heart or what they felt was right and wrong. No, that wouldn't be good enough, I hardly ever lost my cool – and I had lost it there, and lost it very badly. "Ryuuzaki…my father should accept me for who I am, not who I am with."
It was silent for a little bit longer to the point where I wondered if he'd even heard what I'd said. I'd implied we were together, which may or may not have been true in some definitions of the phrase, and I wondered if we were together in the way I wanted us to be. Which brought me to wondering how I did want us to be, and I didn't like the answer. I didn't like that I wanted him to be mine completely, because I doubted he felt anything remotely similar for me as how I felt for him. It would also make life a lot more difficult if we remained together. At first, this could have been a fling – momentary lapses in judgement, or perhaps just experimenting and trying to have fun. But now emotions and feelings, at least on my end (it was difficult to tell with him) were mixed in, and it felt like the walls were closing in around us where a decision would have to be made eventually. I felt incredibly vulnerable.
Thankfully, Matsuda chose that moment to re-enter with cake, which I noticed Ryuuzaki didn't really eat, which was weird. He was more worried about Watari thane even I had realized, if he wasn't eating cake.
Around five-thirty in the morning, Mogi made his return from the investigation Ryuuzaki had sent him out on, and he more or less lumbered off to a spare bedroom to get some sleep. In a tower built to accommodate sixty people comfortably, it was still a bit of a disappointment that our force hadn't grown in number. Obviously, Ryuuzaki had anticipated more joining us, but so far it hadn't happened. Aizawa showed up on time, thankfully, because Ryuuzaki was likely to explode if one thing went wrong. And then we got another call from the kidnappers.
Ryuuzaki set up the transmitter and voice converter before speaking, and this time I kept my distance, not wanting to draw further attention to our relationship with the others watching so intently, probably waiting for such a thing as that. "Hello?"
The voice on the other end was loud, and it helped that Ryuuzaki had put the volume on max. It was easy to hear every word spoken. "Ah, L. I assume I am speaking to L. Take off the voice converter or I will kill him." I resisted the urge to comfort him as I noticed a faintest tremble before he was unreadable once more.
"Not until I know he is safe. I want to hear his voice, I want from his lips he is for the most part unharmed." The standard, and practical, thing to ask. Proof of living, typical in most kidnapping cases - necessary.
When Watari's voice sounded on the phone it was faint, be he seemed to be defiant of his kidnappers, which meant they hadn't yet broken him. "Don't give them anything! Don't do what they want. Just-" there was a loud thud and it didn't sound promising for Watari, then yelling from the kidnapper.
"Did I say you could say that? I said to tell him you were fine! You idiot! Do you want to die here?" A short silence followed, and then, "Now, you've heard his voice and aside from a bleeding lip he is fine."
I was probably the only one who noticed, but he hesitated. I could help him with this. I took the phone from him and, when he nodded, opened up notepad on one of the computers and indicated he should type as I switched the speaker to 'on.' "Very well," I said with a confidence I didn't quite feel. We would get Watari back, we wouldn't fail. "Here I am." It didn't take too long to negotiate with them, speaking what Ryuuzaki typed and arranging the when and where to meet. It was good, just in case, that we did have the money.
"Remember how you asked me to constantly scan for his cell-phone, Ryuuzaki?" I asked after walking back over to my computer. I put his phone on the desk and Matsuda's phone rang. I was excited, I'd gotten a signal from the lost phone and, from the coordinates Aizawa had given Matsuda, they matched the ones I'd gotten. After asking Aizawa a few more questions, Ryuuzaki finally hung up and returned Matsuda's phone to him. And I wanted to hug him, kiss him, and tell him everything would be alright. I didn't, couldn't, with everyone watching. I was in deep and I didn't even know how he felt about me, not really. I watched as he pulled up a satellite image of the area and was somewhat surprised at how close they were to us. Maybe they really did know where we were and I felt sort of bad that I might be partially responsible for having moved to a permanent building. We'd been in danger for having staying in one place too long, something Ryuuzaki, to my knowledge, had never done before on a case.
The smile on his face was a bit of a relief, and I was surprised when he called a break. We'd reached a milestone; I could feel it when we pinpointed their location. Now we just needed to come up with a plan. I was tired, exhausted, over-worked and had stayed up all night. And I could tell he was about to suggest I get some rest. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. We can rest when we've found Watari." There, hopefully he'd leave it alone. I would rest when Watari was safe, same as him. Besides, he needed me awake more than he needed me as dead weight.
