(…and with sharp fingernails she etched her name in the soldier's swords.)
.
Beyond stared at the woman's leather clad retreating back with bulging eyes, biting his thumbnail.
Naomi Misora.
She was… curious.
She said she was a detective but she didn't produce a badge and she didn't claim to be a private investigator. The lack of badge could be explained of course, after all he did not ask for it, but it seemed surprising for a law enforcement officer of such a rank not to flash their authority at every given opportunity.
What intrigued Beyond more was that she had moved to grab her weapon when she evidently did not have one – well, evidently to him. She merely stuck her hand against the lining of her jacket giving the impression of possessing a firearm. Her want to appear tough and armed amused him, as she wasn't as good at masking her nervousness as she thought.
While she was in the bathroom he clearly heard through the door that she was on leave.
But on the leave for what? Never mind. He would find that out once he got hold of Anna's laptop. He waited for Naomi to turn the corner and hurried after her to make sure that she was not spying on him. Once he had confirmed she was not intent on following him he left, stuffing his hands in his pockets and pulling the baseball cap over his head, whistling as he wondered how he should test the female detective.
She did not reveal that she was working under L – though he did not blame her for he gave the impression of a stranger of the most curious kind – but it would be painstakingly wrong not to assume that she was. This was L's move, signature and all.
And everything had gone according to plan. He had surprised Naomi greatly when she discovered him under Believe Bridesmaid's bed and her reaction was even more humorous than he expected it to be. He spent the entire contact deliberately acting as eccentrically as he could and Naomi's responses didn't disappoint.
However if she truly was a homicide detective – and Beyond began to believe her words once he recalled her reactions and the way she held herself – she was undoubtedly an emotional one. A cool and clear head would be standard procedure yet Miss Misora had no trouble hiding her shock or distaste towards the man who crawled out from under the bed unexpectedly and introduced himself as Rue Ryuzaki.
He wasn't worried even though her emotional state made her more unpredictable. It would only make the time spent with her more amusing.
And she was stubborn. Perhaps it was simply her apparent distaste to him but Misora refused to acknowledge any of his theories until he pointed them out persistently at least a dozen times. It was almost beginning to drain him despite the few jars of jam he had consumed for lunch.
He lowered his head as a group of rowdy teenagers passed and bit his lip, struggling not to laugh. He couldn't wait to find out more about her. He had already confirmed to be a rather worthy detective. But was she worthy enough to be his opponent?
.
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Anna choked on her tea, spluttering the light brown liquid all over the kitchen table. She coughed and hit her chest with a closed fist a couple of times before her throat cleared up and she glared up at Beyond, her lips stretching around her question in a snarl. "She's what?"
Beyond rolled his eyes and took in a deep breath before repeating his words. "Naomi Misora – she's a detective, and she appears to unquestionably be the person L has chosen to investigate the case for him."
"Okay, first, the woman you are talking about is an FBI agent, not a detective. And secondly: you're still set on helping L's chosen hand, this Naomi Misora, to solve the case?"
If Beyond was surprised that Anna knew who the woman was down to the nickname, he didn't show it. "Yes."
Anna's mouth remained open, her eyes slowly widening as realisation filled her mind. "What- Why the hell would you be helping an FBI agent?!" She stood, the mug almost toppling over as the chair scraped against the ground and she rested her weight on the table with her hands. "I don't want to go to jail just because you have a petty crush on a hot federal agent. Are you trying to ruin my life? Did you not hear me? She is an FBI agent."
The only reaction the man in front of her gave to her outburst was a raised eyebrow.
The brunette shook her head with disbelief, her hands flying when she attempted to exhibit her distaste and discontent at his plans through gestures. "I can't- It's- Go to hell!"
She threw her arms in the air and stalked out of the kitchen area, making sure to violently shove herself out of his way as she passed.
Beyond spun on his heels, following her into the main room with slumped shoulders. "Relax! She won't be smart enough to figure this out in time even if she had two of me to help her."
Anna whirled around, her hair wrapping around her neck with the force. "Oh, so that makes it all okay!" she laughed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "My bad!"
"Are you underestimating me?" Beyond asked, fighting to keep the slight hurt from his voice.
The medical student shook her head, resting her hands against her desk to diminish the sudden ache in her head. "I am not underestimating you, Beyond, I think you are underestimating the FBI agent. She has made quite a reputation for herself, you know."
Beyond shrugged his shoulders. "That's precisely why I need your computer right now so I could conduct appropriate research about her."
Anna slowly turned to him slowly, with a glare, wincing at the smile on his face. "Why do you even ask?"
"I didn't ask," he protested, slightly pushing her away so he could reach into the draw containing the device.
The girl rolled her eyes. "No, of course you didn't. I apologise for making such a ridiculous assumption." She gritted her teeth, swallowing the burning taste at the back of her throat.
The small headache quickly manifested into bursts of sharp pain directed to the centre of her forehead. It spread to her neck and her shoulders and the medical student massaged both areas, grunting when all it did was make it worse as the burning feeling reached her chest.
Beyond folded himself into a seat on Anna's bed and opened up the laptop, his fingers drumming on the surface as his eyes flickered to the wincing figure to his side. "What exactly do you know about this Naomi Misora, then?"
Anna swallowed, cursing when her sides burned as she turned to face him and attempted to rest against the desk in a nonchalant manner but failed when her heart painfully thumped in her chest and she tightly crossed her arms to try to rid herself of the feeling.
She shrugged awkwardly. "Not much really – after all, the FBI business is usually kept under wraps. I think she's been on the news a couple of times though – that's where I recognise the name from. She's a Japanese national but is part of the American FBI taskforce. If she's the person L chose I would beware if I were you: apparently she did not choose the nickname 'Misora Massacre' willingly."
Beyond hummed and he expertly hacked into the systems, though the FBI's security firewalls were much stronger than the Los Angeles police department's still within minutes he was scanning through the forbidden files.
It seemed like Anna's words were right: Naomi Misora was an FBI agent with a rather gruesome and yet admirable arrest record. His eyes searched for the reason she has been temporarily suspended until he found it.
Her team had spent months secretly investigating and infiltrating a drug cartel, hours upon hours spent on surveillance and undercover work, enough to fill a dozen file cabinets but faced with a thirteen year old criminal she had failed to act as is instructed and demanded from an FBI agent.
She had been unable to pull the trigger when its target was a child.
It seemed like Naomi was your typical White Knight. Sure she had failed the operation but Beyond doubted that once she came back and resumed with her work, in her personal file the failed case would soon be buried under the reports of successful operations. The case would never be forgotten – it would simply appear less significant against the others.
Well, unless Naomi was too affected by the failure of her last case to continue work as an FBI agent but he doubted it. She had not shown signs of trauma or anything of the sort that would affect her efficiency to deal with things.
A mild coughing distracted Beyond from his thoughts and he looked up at Anna with a raised eyebrow. But the question in his eyes was replaced with shock and within seconds he was next to her, holding the girl who was on her knees on the ground, pulling at her hair and coughing violently.
"Anna!" He shook her by her shoulders but the brunette was unable to reply, her lips numbly moving around soundless words too jumbled for Beyond to read. He quickly took her pulse, frowning when he felt the speed her blood was pumped around her chest.
Anna cried out in pain, no longer able to hold the pain behind gritted teeth. Beyond laid her on the carpet when she shook violently, his brain scrambling on strands to figure out what on earth was going.
Her eyes widened and she screamed before shutting them, clasping her hands on her neck as if she was being strangled and was trying to rip off the invisible rope from around her neck. She convulsed and shook, reaching for empty air with curled fingers, the breath hitching in her throat.
Beyond scratched at his head, scanning her before his widening eyes settled on above her head and he froze, his mouth dropping open.
As the girl continued to shake and cry out in garbled words, the numbers above her head were out of control. They went up and down repeatedly, as if the fate couldn't decide whether the medical student should die in five minutes or in a hundred years or anything in between. For a second, the numbers froze and Anna stilled, the shaking coming to a halt and she laid on the ground limply, her fingers and head occasionally twitching as if an insect that has just been swatted and its body was exhibiting the last involuntarily reactions.
The black haired man allowed himself to release a sigh of relief, only to jump when the numbers flickered before plummeting down rapidly, so fast his eyes could barely keep up. He scrambled to his feet, jumping over Anna's body on all fours, his knees on either side of her as he brought his hands together and situated them above her heart.
"No, no, no" he growled, his entwined fingers pumping on Anna's chest in a well-known rhythm of chest compressions in order to raise any signs of consciousness. His own blood raised as his stomach was filled with dread and panic, a feeling he couldn't recall ever experiencing.
He paused after the first set, cursing when Anna didn't move. He took in a deep gulp of air, ready for the rescue breath when he noticed the small trail of blood leaving through the corner of her mouth. Momentarily hesitating he decided on hands only CPR, forcing his mind to focus on the hundred thumps a minute rather than the fact that not a single breath was leaving her chest.
Anna's eyes suddenly shot open and she sat up with lightning speed, gasping for air. Beyond jumped back in shock, relief washing over him before his hands were around Anna again, cradling her like an infant.
The girl's eyes remained wide open as she grasped at the strands of her memory, her vision blurry. But she could feel somebody's arms around her and she enveloped herself in the comfort of their warmth, her ears failing to interpret the incoherent mumbles into her ear.
Her memory returned to her before her vision did and she was able to distinguish that the arms belonged to Beyond but she didn't move, instead her fingers gripping at the fabric of his sleeves, her eyes only being able to see the blurry outline of his pale face.
Her mouth felt dry and she had to cough a few times before her throat was clear enough for her to speak. "Did I just have a heart attack?" The statement left her lips in an attempt to bring any sort of explanation to the event, despite whether it was correct or not. She gagged at the blood on her hands and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, shivering.
Beyond didn't answer, his mind still racing from the event and he simply let Anna burry her head into his chest, placing his chin on top of her hair. In all honesty he had no idea, and if it was a heart attack, it was the strangest one he had encountered or heard about. And if it was a seizure, it was an incredibly violent one. He was stuck between the horror he felt at the idea of Anna dying, such a painful death as well, and the confusion that littered the corners of his eyes: the lifespan above the girl's head.
The red numbers flickered, slowing before they stabilised and returned to normal, albeit a single digit lower than the number he saw that morning before leaving. His eyes narrowed and he wrapped his hands tighter around the girl in his arms, a sudden feeling of dread in his chest.
Despite the passing of the storm he didn't let himself relax, focusing on nursing Anna to calmness and hopefully to sleep so he could be left to his thoughts.
To distract himself, he began to plot a small test for the FBI agent. Perhaps he should attack her, just to see the state of her physical strength? No, no, such a test would not be a physical test but a mental one: he would be surveying not only her ability to fight back but her reaction to a physical confrontation. Of course in no way was he going to kill her while she provided some entertainment and besides, she was not an intended victim, and he was rather curious as to how far L will reveal himself in such a 'special case'.
There's only one victim left.
How far will L go to solve this case, only to fail?
Anna groaned in between the fabric of his shirt, grumbling about a sick feeling in her stomach and the sharp pain in her temples and the way she will improve the medical system once she graduates into the field, and by the end of it all she could barely hear or understand herself what she was saying.
In between her mumbles, Beyond could slightly make out Anna calling him an idiot and his lips involuntarily twitched upwards.
He never thought of himself as an idiot.
But admittedly caring about Anna, let alone trying to save her life when just mere weeks ago he was contently set on killing her with his own bare hands, certainly made him feel a little…foolish.
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A/N: Okay, so a small note: I am VERY cautious about bringing Naomi into the storyline - from Beyond's POV of course - and I am still not sure whether to put her face to face with Anna. I would love to write it, but then I would have to tiptoe around the subject of Anna being suspected at the end. If I don't make Naomi suspicious after she's seen Beyond and Anna together, it would be such an insult to her character I could not bear it. But anyways, I will stop rambling for it is something for me to ponder over.