May 1st
7:46 am
L wasn't sure what, exactly, he had been expecting of Kaiba's home. It was huge, especially by Japanese standards. It reminded L of mansions he had visited in England.
"MOKUBA! YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE!"
L blinked. Matsuda jumped, and the rest of the task force glanced at each other. There was a mischievous laugh, and a teenage boy that L recognized as Mokuba barreled from an upstairs door, leaping onto the banister and sliding down it, landing with a practiced ease. A green-haired boy that L remembered as Noa Kaiba – the mystery boy – simply took the steps two at a time.
"Moki, why did you do that?" Noa moaned.
"Do I need a reason to annoy my brother?" Mokuba said with a huge grin.
"His spam filter though, why his spam filter? You know how he gets about those...interesting pop-ups."
"Did you see his face, though – it was redder than a tomato!"
Mokuba's grin slipped slightly when he saw the people in the doorway.
"Uh...hi?" he said.
Noa also paused.
"Oh...you must be the people Seto said were coming."
"That's us," Matsuda said.
L remained in his position, slightly angled behind Soichiro so as to minimize exposure to others.
"He's in his office," Noa said, nodding. He frowned slightly. "You're early. Just to warn you, but he hates that."
"Duly noted," Soichiro said.
Mokuba blinked a few times, looking at Light of all people. It must have been the boy's similarity to his own brother that was throwing him off, L thought. Mokuba's brow furrowed slightly. Then Noa tugged on his arm.
"Come on, Rebecca's probably having a conniption. Let's go."
"Right," Mokuba said. "See ya!"
He gave the small group a two-fingered salute and jogged out doors, with Noa walking quickly behind him. When another silence fell over them, Light was the first to speak.
"His brothers...?" Light said.
"Is this a good idea, stationing here?" Aizawa asked, eyes narrowing. "What other people are going to be coming and going?"
"We'll be tucked away in a corner. It's only for a little while," L said. "Kaiba-kun has very advanced computer technology. I'd like to see what we can do about de-scrambling the Kira tape's audio."
And I need to keep a closer eye on Kaiba, he didn't say out loud.
"He's going to be here in less than fifteen minutes – don't give me that look. I'm fine."
"You don't sound fine, Seto Kaiba. You need to take a breath or two."
"...you talk like a mother. Stop it."
"Some people like you need a little mothering once in a while."
The voices filtered down from the second floor. L and the others glanced up. Kaiba walked around the railing, looking back over his shoulder as he started down the stairs.
"Just go back with your brothers. I'll call you later tonight."
A woman that L had never seen before started down the stairs after Kaiba. She was not Japanese; her skin was a deep bronze and her eyes a shining blue. Raven hair fell across her back, the front strands wrapped in gold bands, and she dressed simply in a long, plain-colored canvas dress.
"All right, that's fine," the woman replied. L quickly flipped through his mental files and matched her accent to the Middle East, probably Egypt or Syria, or even Saudi Arabia. "Marik and Rishid and I are going out to look for signs of him –"
She saw the group first. Kaiba seemed to notice her pause and glance, and froze midstep on the stairs.
"Good morning, Kaiba-san," Light said.
For another moment, Kaiba was frozen. Then he scowled so deeply that L was certain the expression would be etched into his skin.
"You're early," he said, coming the rest of the way down the stairs.
The woman followed him, lingering slightly behind. L glanced at her from his place behind Soichiro. Soichiro started to explain how the trains ran a little ahead of schedule and they found the place quicker than expected, giving L a chance to study the woman. Who was she, and what was she doing in Kaiba's house? Kaiba seemed to know her. There was the sheen of intelligence in her eyes and a grace in her posture. She held herself like an English noblewoman.
As Kaiba's scowl just got deeper and deeper during Soichiro's explanation, the woman walked softly to Kaiba's side.
"I'll just excuse myself," she said softly.
L did not miss the slight touch against Kaiba's hand as she nodded to him. And he did not miss the softening of Kaiba's face as he nodded back and watched her go.
"Excuse me," she said, passing between the group to get out of the door.
Her dress brushed against L's leg as she disappeared through the doors, and the giant portals swung shut behind her.
Kaiba's scowl returned.
"So...is she a friend of yours?" Light asked.
Kaiba glared at him.
"I doubt we have time for small talk. I'll show you the room you can use."
He turned on his heel and stalked back up the stairs. L was the first to extract himself from the group and catch up to Kaiba.
"Is she going to be coming around again?" he asked, almost off-hand.
"I told you there'd be people coming in and out. That's why I said you shouldn't set up here."
"But do you know for sure she'll stop by again?"
"Why the hell do you care?"
"I would like to know what kind of people are going to be around..."
Kaiba's lips tightened. They reached the top of the first flight of the stairs, but the grand staircase split off into two more flights on other side. Kaiba started up the right side.
"Kaiba-san, it's probably a good idea to let us know who's coming around," Light pointed out. "You know, for security's sake."
A harsh sigh blasted from Kaiba's throat. He stopped on the middle of the stairs and turned around to look at the task force, all of them, somewhere down the stairs from him. Clever move, L thought. Gaining the higher ground to augment the psychological edge he already had from being on his home turf.
"Fine. You want to know who will be around?" he said. "Yes. That woman probably will come around again, because I can't seem to get rid of her. She's Ishizu Ishtar, and she's...an old friend."
There was a hesitation before "old friend," and L wondered just how close the two were.
"My brothers will be in the house during random parts of the day. I never know when they're coming home or going out because they conveniently forget to tell me. There will be staff running around, both security and housekeeping. Yugi and his geek squad drop in randomly – I never know when they're going to show up either. Is this going to be too much of a 'security hazard' for you all?"
A pause punctuated the conversation. L stared at Kaiba for a moment, chewing on the end of his thumb. He glanced over his shoulder. Light was looking at Kaiba, but the others were all giving L a glance. L shrugged.
"As long as we are tucked out of the way, I don't see how any of this will affect us. It's not for a long time...just until we get something else from the second Kira, or some other evidence."
Kaiba's lips twitched towards a scowl again. Then he shook his head and turned back around, heading up the stairs. The rest of the group followed.
It didn't matter about all of those other people. L had gotten what he wanted: a name. Ishizu Ishtar. Kaiba, like Light, was proving to be an intricate puzzle. And perhaps solving it would bring him closer to Kira...
May 1st
6:38 pm
L called off early. He said he wanted to play around a little more with the voice descrambler himself, but Light really knew that L wanted some time to investigate Seto Kaiba without anyone looking over his shoulder.
That's right. Keep your eyes on him.
For the past couple of days, L had barely seemed to be paying attention to Light. Light could sense his archenemy's eyes moving towards Kaiba, a puzzle so intriguing that the young genius just couldn't resist. Light smiled to himself. Just what he had needed – it barley mattered anymore that L knew about the Death Note. It was a fair trade for the losing L's constant stare.
Light continued down the street, headed for a small restaurant he had noticed earlier. He and his father were staying at a nearby motel for a few days, to cut down on the commute from Tokyo to Domino. His father had gone home already, but Light was feeling a bit peckish.
He appeared silently, from nowhere, like a shadow that had just taken form.
"Good evening."
Light tensed a bit in spite of himself.
"Hello," he said back to Bakura.
Bakura looked at him with a small smile, through half-closed eyes like a cat.
"Don't sound so happy to see me, Yagami."
The white-haired young man turned his eyes towards Ryuk, who flew beside Light. The Shinigami was pointedly not looking at Bakura.
"And don't be so excited, Ryuk, it's overwhelming," Bakura said. His smile showed off the barest hint of fangs.
"Can I help you?" Light asked.
"Not at the moment. But I thought I could help you."
Light gave the young boy a sidelong glance. His face was, as always, unreadable.
"How so?"
"Oh, don't think I have forgotten, Yagami. I promised that this joint effort would be beneficial to both of us."
"You said that, but you didn't elaborate," Light said.
He came to a stop on the sidewalk. Bakura walked a few steps before noticing, and turned around to face the young man, eyes deeply shadowed by his bangs.
"So what is this 'deal' you want to make?" Light said.
Bakura's eyes half closed, and he smiled.
"It's very simple. You'll benefit more than I. First, I'm offering to help you locate the real name of the famous detective L."
Light's eyes narrowed slightly, and his hand tightened around his shoulder bag.
"How do you propose to do that? I'm sure all his records are destroyed."
He glanced at Ryuk, who still wasn't looking at either of them. The Shinigami scratched his butt, as though bored, and Light looked quickly away.
"Unless you have the Shinigami eyes..."
"Unfortunately, no," Bakura said. "But I think you'll find that I have...my ways of finding things that want to be hidden."
"And then?" Light said.
"Second, I'm offering to help you learn how to use the death magic."
"The what?"
A car drove past them on the sidewalk, the headlights through Bakura's face into stark contrast for a moment.
"The death magic," Bakura said. His voice almost seemed to have a hissing undertone. "The magic of the Death Note. You have been using it, yes, but not nearly to its full potential."
"Full potential?" Light echoed. "I have stretched the notebook as far as it will go. I've tested hundreds of ways of killing."
"But you are limited to killing by writing," Bakura said. "Won't that look suspicious to little L, if you are writing all the time? What if you could...scrape off a little of that magic...? Hold it in your hand...look at a person, and write the name in your mind...killing without any external evidence left behind?"
In spite of himself, an excited quiver went through Light. Was that possible? Could he really pull magic off of the Death Note? Essentially turn himself into a living Death Note? He glanced up at Ryuk again.
"Is that possible?" he asked.
Ryuk shrugged.
"Sounds kinda familiar," he said. He tapped a claw to his teeth. "Dunno."
Light's lips tightened. This Shinigami was no help at all.
"Fine," Light said. "It sounds beneficial to me...but what do you want?"
Bakura smiled.
"One: you turn a blind eye to whatever I'm doing. Two: you give me a page of the Death Note."
Light's eyes narrowed slightly.
"How do I know you won't kill me with that page?"
Bakura shrugged.
"It's a fair point. I suppose my word won't convince you?"
"Not in the slightest."
Bakura sighed, but it sounded like he was only faking his resignation.
"Well. I should have guessed it was too much to ask. So. My offer still stands, with my single condition."
Light considered. It did sound reasonable. He didn't see a reason to refuse.
And he didn't feel quite comfortable about not refusing.
"Fine," he said. "It's a deal."
Bakura smiled widely.
"I knew we'd get along," he said.
He held out his hand. Light started to give him a firm handshake – but jerked away as he felt something warm and sticky against his hand.
"Is that...blood on your hands?"
Bakura glanced at his palm, looking very unperturbed.
"It might be," he said, turning his head slightly.
An ambulance wheeled around the corner, lights flashing and sirens screaming. Light turned to watch the ambulance's path. It took a left at the corner behind him towards...Kaiba Mansion. Light turned back to Bakura, who's eyes were gleaming with a deep, gleeful malice.
"What are you..."
"Ah, ah, ah," Bakura said, waving a finger that was still stained with hints of blood. "Remember my condition."
May 1st
6:00 pm (about thirty minutes earlier)
L tapped on his computer. Soichiro had gone to his motel already due to a massive headache; Light had left with him to get him home. Aizawa and Matsuda were picking up, the dry undertones of Aizawa and the low cheerful voice of Matsuda forming something like white noise in the back of L's head.
Ishizu Ishtar.
Kaiba had left the room about ten minutes ago. But he was only in the hallway, and L could definitely hear the soft beeping of a cell phone being dialed. Was he calling Ishizu Ishtar? Probably. L had heard the CEO say he would call, and Kaiba seemed the type to do what he said he would.
Ishizu Ishtar had many results. She was another prominent figure in archeology, the head of the Supreme Board of Antiquities in Egypt. She had found the first real evidence in the case of the Nameless Pharaoh, a pair of ancient tablets depicting some kind of supernatural battle...
A war. A war is starting.
The Death Wars.
L shifted, and tapped his toes against the armchair he was sitting on. Usually, his dreams faded quickly. He never remembered them clearly a few minutes after waking up.
Not so with this dream. On the contrary, it felt like that strange dream of a weird Candy Land was getting clearer and clearer. What did it mean?
The Death Wars.
What a strange name for a war. Death was a necessary aspect of war and fighting...why did they feel the need to add such a qualifier?
He shook his head. It was only a dream. Ishizu Ishtar was his current priority. It was interesting that she, too, was a major player in Egyptology, like Yugi. Why did so many of Kaiba's acquaintances figure prominently in such a specific field? Coincidences like this shouldn't be ignored...
"Ryuzaki? We're headed off," Matsuda called across the room.
"Fine," L said, waving a hand without looking up from his screen.
Aizawa and Matsuda gathered up their papers before headed for the door. They were only halfway through the door when –
CRASH! BANG—BANG—BANG!
L had trained himself not to startle at loud noises, but he couldn't stop himself from leaping out of his chair. Was that gunfire?
An alarm cut through the mansion – was it a fire alarm? A security alarm? L could hear footsteps pounding up the stairs – there was another crash somewhere outside.
Matsuda had dropped his papers in a flurry of white. He was shouting down the hallway – L couldn't quite make it out, but he thought he heard Kaiba's name somewhere in there. Aizawa had pulled his gun and was starting down the hallway.
This was probably dangerous. L probably shouldn't leave the room – there was no telling what could be here.
He ran into the hallway anyway.
"Kaiba! Come back!" Matsuda was shouting.
L only got a chance to see Kaiba's coattails vanished around the corner of the hallway. Aizawa bolted after him with his gun held low. Matsuda swore under his breath and ran after Aizawa, pulling out his own gun. L hesitated for just a moment. Kaiba's phone was laying on the floor, and he thought he could hear a small voice still coming from it. Ishizu's name blinked on the screen.
L started to reach for it. But then there was another shout, another bang of gunfire, and he left it, barreling down the hall instead.
One of the rooms in the next hallway was hanging open. L saw Matsuda running inside.
"The hell –"
"Call an ambulance!"
"Dammit, somebody get a first aid kit, he's gonna bleed to death!"
"What the hell happened?"
"Roland – ROLAND! Get me a damn ambulance!"
L ran the last few feet to the room. He paused in the doorway and stared.
It was a bedroom – or at least, he assumed it had been. The bed had once had a canopy, but it had crashed to the floor, and the bed itself was covered in long, huge rips – rather like the claw marks of some giant cat. The floor bore some of the same marks. The window hung open, glass scattered across the floor. There was a small handgun laying discarded on the ground.
In the middle of the floor, Noa Kaiba was bleeding to death.
Mokuba kept yelling, tears flying from his eyes. His older brother was gripping his shoulders, holding him back while Aizawa pressed his hands to the deep puncture wounds in Noa's chest. The young boy was gasping for each breath, eyes open wide and bulging. He choked on something, and with a hacking cough, blood came up with it.
"Let me go after him, Seto! LET ME GO AFTER HIM!" Mokuba screamed. "I can kill him! I'll kill him! Alpin and I can kill him!"
"Mokuba! Mokuba, stop it, dammit! The ambulance is coming. Calm down!"
Matsuda bolted from the room again as some of Kaiba's security guards appeared from the hallway.
"We've called the ambulance," an older man with sunglasses said breathlessly. "They'll be here in two minutes. Here, move aside."
The man pushed Aizawa back gently, muttering a thank you, and set down a first aid kit, ripping it open and starting to pull out gauze patches.
L surveyed the room. Trying to pretend that his heart wasn't fluttering with nervousness, that his breaths weren't coming shorter at the blood staining the floor. He scanned the room, the evidence.
Someone had obviously broken through that window. The discarded gun lay fairly close to Noa's hand – the shots had probably come from him. He had taken three stab wounds, two in the stomach, one in the chest. His lung might have been punctured – would he survive? In L's swiftly calculating mind, his chances did not look good.
But the claw marks. Where had the claw marks come from? They looked like they could have been made by a lion. Or a tiger. Was there some kind of exotic animal on the loose? No, not possible. They were on the second floor, and the intruder had obviously come in through the window – someone with high acrobatic skills. And the stab wounds were precise; only a practiced hand with a knife could have done that. There was a bit of blood dripped on the floor by the window, and one the window frame. Had the intruder been injured on the way out?
Mokuba's screams turned into sobs. His face was now buried in his brother's chest. Kaiba could only stare as his other brother lay on the ground, gauze pressed to his wounds that swiftly filled with blood and had to be changed again. He held Mokuba tightly as the younger boy sobbed.
Seto Kaiba's hands were shaking.