Adila cringed when Teru put his arm around her. She had not slept much last night and had lain awake for hours waiting for the alarm to go off. He had told her his secret. Kira had contacted him and entrusted him with that damn lethal note book. It was his weapon to use but only as ordered by Kira. He had even demonstrated its frightening power by murdering Demegawa and his lackeys during the broadcast of Kira's Kingdom. If she had not been so terrified, she would have been happy. It had worked just as Shuichi had explained to her. She shivered uncontrollably with the thought of Light Yagami pulling the strings on her boyfriend like he was a stupid puppet. Teru had made love to her after the startling revelation and once again she was left doubting if he was thinking of her at all. She felt sick when he pulled her against him and his erect member lay against her back. Did he dream about Kira? That would be the only reason he would want her again. She wiggled out of his arms and slipped out of the bed. The last thing she wanted to do right now was have sex with him. What would he do if she told him she not only knew the identity of his personal god but could even introduce him? She would never tell him because the possibilities terrified her.
~\0/~
Adila's phone vibrated in the middle of the weekly staff meeting of Okibashi Group. She had been daydreaming about Shuichi Aizawa, pondering when she would see him again. Unknown blinked at her on the caller ID, beckoning her to answer it. She needed to talk to him, but she was stuck in this damn meeting. Thinking quickly, she grabbed her stomach and jumped to her feet.
"Excuse me, I am so terribly sorry but I – " Adila faked a stomach churning gag, pretending to heave as if she were going to vomit on the board room table.
The horrified men in the room were unable to comment as she sprinted out the door. Ducking into the restroom, she went to the last stall on the end, furthest from the door. When her phone began to vibrate again, she quickly punched the answer button.
"Shuichi," she gasped, gripping the phone that was her lifeline to him.
"Find a way to get out of the house tonight. I need to talk to you. It's important. Our usual place," he rattled off swiftly, hanging up without permitting her to say a word.
Adila stared at her phone in shock. When was it not important when he called? What could it be this time?
...
"I want to take you to Near. I think you should talk to him," Shuichi told her as they sipped sake.
He carefully watched her face, surprised when there was no reaction. Something had happened. There was something she was not telling him. He had noticed upon seeing her that she appeared pale and tired. Her eyebrows were drawn together in a semi-permanent expression of deep thought. Reaching out to her, he massaged the area from her above her nose to her hairline as if to wipe away the worry on her face. He received a slight smile in return that was anything but happy.
"I do too," she agreed, finishing off her cup of sake. "When will we go?"
"Finish that and I'll take you. I was on my way to see him," he said, refilling her cup.
Why would she so willingly turn against her boyfriend? Shuichi had expected resistance and a few choice words from the spunky woman but something had stolen her spark. His anxiety escalated as he waited for her to spell out her reason for tranquil compliance.
"Teru has a notebook. He's the one who killed Demegawa and the others. Light ordered him to do it," she mumbled, her hand shaking as she brought the cup to her lips.
Shuichi froze with the cup of sake halfway to his mouth. He stared at her with wide, round eyes. A wave of nausea rushed over him with a surprising intensity. She was in imminent danger or did she even know that? Did she blindly trust the fool who had fallen under Light's spell not to hurt her? He knew how manipulative and cunning Light could be. He had been convinced by the suave pretender himself once that he was just a dedicated son then a dedicated cop like the rest of them. It was all bullshit, and Light was the true life wolf in sheep's clothing right in the middle of the stupid, trusting flock. This boyfriend of hers sounded like a whack job years ago. He could only imagine how the man must be now that he had become a devout disciple of Kira. Although he loved Adila, he knew she could be quite the idiot when it came to emotional matters. Her being with Teru again was evidence of that fact. Whatever hold that man had on her, he had to help her. He would venture to guess that made him an idiot as well, but he could not stop how he felt about her.
"Let's go now," he muttered, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the table.
The sake would have to wait. They would order a case of champagne when this thing was over.
...
"You're kidding right?" Adila demanded when the blond woman named Halle tried to blindfold her.
"No. If you want to see Near you have to wear this," the woman rejoined stubbornly.
"We're in the middle of a damn parking lot," she groused being just as obstinate.
"I will be taking you to an undisclosed location. Mr. Aizawa I suggest you get your girlfriend under control or she will be left here…unconscious so she cannot follow us," the blonde returned, her golden eyes holding a menacing gleam.
"Adila, please, just do it. It's important you come," Shuichi said, ignoring the girlfriend comment.
"All right," she sighed with reluctant submission.
After they were both blindfolded, they were led to a car. They were taken on a twisting, turning path. Shuichi warned her not to count turns or try to remember the route because they would never find it again anyway. He had tried before and failed only to discover too late the driver doubled back at some point and drove around the same block two or three times to make it impossible to recreate the route.
Adila could tell she was helped out of the car by a man when they reached the hidden, super-secret base of operations for the Special Provision for Kira. The person was tall and strong with large hands that easily pulled her from the car to set her on her feet. She smelled an odd mixture of wet earth, diesel fuel, and something metallic she could not identify. It was quiet except for the sound of an engine; she surmised it was a generator for power. Were they at an old army bunker in the middle of the forest? She was pushed gently by the unidentified man when she would not move. It was not time to remove the blindfold yet.
The pneumatic hiss of a door sliding open met her ears before the click of her heels along with another pair belonging to Halle and the muted scuffle of men's shoes echoed along the hallway that sounded metal. It had to be military type building with metal floors. What an acoustical nightmare. The four of them sounded like a rock drummer had gone berserk from the sound they were making walking down the hall. It was for sure sneaking into this place would have to be a well thought out and planned procedure. After another air-filled hiss, they were led into a room and the blindfolds were removed at last.
"Adila!" a familiar voice yelled her name. Before her eyes could adjust to the bright lights in the room, she was smashed against the chest of a human wall with blond hair. "Honey, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Uncle Anthony?" she inquired, shielding her eyes from the blinding fluorescent lights covering the ceiling.
"I can't believe it. When you went back to that moron I thought none of us would ever see you again," he stated, not noticing or not caring that he embarrassed her. Her dark red, almost purple face would be hard to ignore so it had to be the latter.
"Mr. Rester, who is this?" a voice from behind him queried.
When her Uncle stepped out of the way, Adila saw a young boy sitting in the middle of a train track on the floor. Her eyes met his eyes that appeared black because of his dilated pupils. She stared at him as he twisted a snow white lock of his short shaggy hair around his finger. He did indeed remind her of L from the blatant scrutiny she was under from those dark eyes to the beginning of dark rings underneath from insomnia. Sleeplessness must be an unfortunate side effect of being the super intelligent.
"Near, this is my niece Adila Rester," Anthony introduced her to the stoic platinum blonde. He used her real last name instead of Sharvani to avoid having to give an unnecessary explanation.
"Niece, huh?" he returned skeptically without taking his eyes off her.
"Genius detective, huh? I've met your kind before. How old are you? Ten?" she shot back snarkily to receive a strange smirk of amusement in return.
"Not that it matters but I'm seventeen. And I'm L's successor. His true successor," he stated with pride leaking into his voice.
"Yes, you are. Not that asshole Light Yagami," she snapped.
"So you know he is Kira too?" he inquired, genuine interest showing on his face.
"Yes, I do. I want to help you any way I can," she responded, moving toward him. She knelt down on the other side of the train track to be face to face with him when he would not move from his half kneeling position with one knee drawn under his chin. "Here is what I know…"
Adila proceeded to tell him about Teru and the notebook. She divulged the details about the night he showed her its power. She listed any personality quirks and habits that might help them plus giving a thorough account of his daily schedule including his routine visits to the gym at exactly nine PM every week night. When she was finished, she stood up to walk back to her Uncle.
"Miss Rester, you should not return home," Near suggested, staring at her intently.
"She has to go back. Otherwise Mikami will kill her with the notebook," Shuichi said, sounding much calmer than he felt.
"No. If Kira doesn't order it, he won't write my name down," she countered, placing her hand against his chest as if to reassure him.
It did not work. Shuichi was still convinced the Kira-lover would kill her without a second thought and without an order from his god. There was a fine line between love and hate. If she abandoned Teru, he would kill her because she would cross that line into hate. She would already be a traitor in Mikami's eyes just like he was being a traitor to Light. They were both defying the new god of this world and would deserve to die in the minds of both of the psychos.
"We could fake her death. She would be safe if Mikami thought she was already dead, right? A car accident or something," he proposed, hoping the half pint prodigy would agree.
"I see your point, Mr. Aizawa. Mr. Gevanni," Near called.
Adila watched as the man with short black hair and light blue eyes stepped forward dutifully. He was the one who had taken her from the car and led her inside. She watched him while he waited for Near to voice his instructions.
"Can you make that car accident happen?" Near asked.
Adila felt a cold chill run down her spine when the man turned his almost colorless blue eyes on her and grinned eerily. She clutched Shuichi who was holding on to her just as tightly.
"I can do it. Trust me…you'll be dead in no time," he said to her, his smile widening which intensified its unnerving quality. "Or at least Mikami will think so."
"I also want you to keep a watch on Mr. Mikami. It will not be difficult since Miss Rester has been so accommodating as to provide us with his full schedule," the diminutive white haired adolescent added, staring at her again.
"Got it!" Gevanni returned, raising his hand in a wave as he walked out of the room.
"Mr. Rester, why don't you show your niece to a room?" Near ordered politely, turning his attention to Shuichi. "Mr. Aizawa, what information do you have for me?"
Shuichi took the opportunity to press a swift kiss to her lips. "I'll talk to you before I leave," he assured her, casting a glance at her Uncle who nodded to give his approval.
Adila embraced him briefly before letting him go to follow her Uncle.
"Who's that?" Anthony asked as they walked down the hallway.
"With any luck, he will be the man who steals me away from Teru Mikami," she answered bluntly, ignoring her Uncle's gape. She questioned if Shuichi had not had her heart all along and Teru had only been some kind of sick fascination.
"Hmmm…I like him already." He took her to the end of the hall where he pressed a button to open the door to a room.
Adila glanced around the small but functional room. Everything was made of shiny steel and very institutional just like any military establishment. There was a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser in the room. She wished she had clothes to put in the dresser. Walking into the room, she could see the closet sized bathroom containing a shower, a toilet, and a sink. Her first thought upon seeing the tiny sink was that she had mixing bowls bigger than that at home. Home. A place she could never go again. Once again, her life had been turned upside down by events surrounding a man. Teru and Kira had become recurring, absolute nightmares in her life. What had she been thinking by allowing Teru back into her heart and life?
"Adila, I know the circumstances are not ideal to say the least, but I'm glad to see you again. And I'm glad you're away from that asshole," Uncle Anthony told her, giving her a gentle embrace. "I'll talk to Halle about allowing you to borrow some of her clothes."
"Thank you," she stated in a low voice, hugging him back tightly when he did not let her go. She was so thankful for the forgiveness and unconditional love of her family.
"I'll give you some time alone. We can talk tomorrow, okay?" He kissed her forehead and left the room.
Adila lay down on the bed, amazed by how comfortable it was despite looking so rigid and utilitarian. Closing her eyes, she allowed the flood of thoughts to come so she could begin to work through them. She had no idea how long she had been laying there when the door to her room slid open with a whoosh. Jerking to a sitting position, she was relieved to see Shuichi had arrived and interrupted before she could indulge in a good old-fashioned pity party. She stood up, holding out her arms to him like a child in need of a comforting hug.
"Lala," he uttered her nickname that only he used. Drawing her into his arms, he buried his face against her neck.
"Ichi, I – " Her words were cut off by his kiss.
"I shouldn't have brought you here. I'm sorry. I never imagined…" He allowed his words to trail off before her captured her lips again. "I never thought you would be forced to stay. I'll come back to see you as soon as possible. I just want you to be safe. I love you, Lala."
Adila smiled against his lips as he kissed her. She wanted to love him and believed she already did. Although recently with Teru acting like a complete psychotic fiend, she had come to the disturbing realization that she did not know what real love was. Shuichi knew; he had to since he still loved her after her folly with L then repeating the same mistake twice with Teru. However, he had been pretty asinine himself by snubbing her to marry the woman he would eventually divorce. Despite all of that she trusted him, putting her heart and her life in his hands seemed to be the best course of action for her at this time. She had faith in him that if she was worth risking his life and heart for, he was worth that risk in return.