Ok, so as promised there is a nice little surprise in here for you all. I hope that you will enjoy this chapter even though it is a little shorter than I wanted it to be. Thanks to all the readers who reviewed/alerted/favorited this story. I really would not have been able to continue with this story without all the awesome support. :)
A musty European cigarette dangled delicately between lush red lips. Dark black hair hung down and tossed carelessly in the soft breeze. Designer sunglasses sat on the perfectly straight bridge of the woman's nose and the sun showed off her smooth ivory skin just as much as the miniskirt and the half-way buttoned blouse. Young fools stared at her unabashedly, and older men cast side-way glances as if she couldn't see their ogling. Idiots, all of them. A smile curled on her lips as she continued to watch the news.
"Absolutely stunning news today," the female reporter announced breathlessly as she glanced down at her papers, double checking yet again. "There is a special announcement coming from…well, I'm not quite sure, but…hell, just put the damn clip on!"
The screen went white and a large Old English Five "L" stood out in the middle of the emptiness. Not long afterward, an annoying electrically distorted voice broke the silence. "Hello, I am L; by now, the world already knows about my existence and everyone alive knows what I do. I make sure that Justice is upheld all around the world, and I have never failed. I interrupt the daily lives of thousands, possibly even millions, to announce that I will be pursuing a new criminal, one who has dared to escape the clutches of the judicial system for over twenty years."
People around the café were muttering excitedly as L took a breath. "Wow, is that really L?"
"Dude, that is so totally L!"
"I feel bad for the poor sucker who got on L's radar."
She just smiled even more widely as the garbled voice continued. "Succubus, you are no doubt watching this broadcast. Listen well, as I'll only say this once. I will find you, I will catch you, and you will be held accountable for all of your crimes." With that, the broadcast ended.
"You heard it," the reporter commented breathlessly. "L himself has declared war on a serial thief that has eluded authorities from numerous countries for over two decades…"
The woman chuckled deeply, taking a drag and blowing out the smoke. "Making me sound like an old lady, bitch."
Standing up, Katrina slung her purse over his shoulder and began walking to her newest target. Today was a glorious day, bright and refreshing. The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art looked so deliciously vulnerable to her and she licked her lips in appreciation. As she stubbed out her cigarette, Katrina glanced at the children walking in and out of the museum with their parents. An attractive teen caught her eye and she took the time to watch him and his family for a little bit. A small dark haired girl clung to her brother's hand tightly and he smiled down at her with sparkling white teeth. His caramel locks glinted attractively in the sunlight and his flawlessly coordinated outfit made her wonder if he had been dressed by his mother. No boy could look so perfect and well, perfect.
"Sayu, hold on a moment," he chuckled as his little sister tried to drag him down the stairs faster. "Mom and Dad are still in the museum."
"But that pwace is swoooo boring!" she complained, adjusting her plastic pink backpack. Her Japanese really did need some work, but what could you expect?
"Well Mom and Dad liked it, so you have to wait for them. After all, didn't they wait for you when we were at the amusement park? Mom hates rides, but she stayed and even went on a few just for you."
"You're wight," she admitted before smiling widely. "You're always wight, Light-chan!"
The affectionate brother patted his sister on the head before his glance came over to Katrina. Intelligent eyes widened in surprise as he took in her overly exposed figure before his glanced turned into one of analyzing. Surely she wasn't native, dress like that, but the slant in her eyes seemed to speak of an Asian bloodline. It was improbable that she was some kind of prostitute since the front of a museum would not be ideal for business, but then again, most Asian women wouldn't wear such high heels.
"Don't worry, kid, I won't bite," Katrina teased as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "And I'm not going to approach you either."
"I knew that," he replied easily. "Besides, I'm only 15, a minor. I have no interest in being approached by you."
"Ouch, nice one."
"Thank you."
Ooh, polite as well. "I'll be carrying on, then. It was nice to meet you."
"I'm Yagami Light," he introduced himself properly, with his last name first. "This is my sister Yagami Sayu. It's impossible to say that we have truly met if we don't even know each other's names."
She really liked this boy. He had a certain air about him, a kind of spunk that she liked to think that L would have. "Lawliet Katrina," she said with an outstretched hand. "Now, it has been nice meeting you."
"Likewise," he replied politely, with a slight bow. Sayu remained quiet and just ogled the older woman's bare and curvy legs.
Once their hands parted, she couldn't help but walk off with a genuine smile.
"Why was that wady naked?" Sayu asked in hushed tones.
~_~_~_~_~_
"No way!" Mello protested. "You suck!"
L rose an eyebrow and the corner of his lips threatened to uplift in a smirk. "In your face," he deadpanned.
It was the fourth time in a row that L had beaten Mello at Battleship, but the older of the two was glad that he hadn't seen the infamous hissy fits yet. Wasn't this child supposed to have an inferiority complex, or something?
"Well, you have to give me one of your slices of cake," Mello commanded with all the dignity of a freshly defeated captain of a sinking ship.
"You will have to explain the reasoning of that," L asked as he pulled his tray of sweets closer to himself. "If you are the one who has been defeated, shouldn't you be the one to offer me something?"
"I don't have anything," the fiery blond retorted with a pout. "So that means that you have to give me something."
"I disagree," L retorted stubbornly. He was way too used to talking to Watari. "If you have nothing, you must offer your body in servitude until you pay off your debt."
"That would be true," Mello shot back, "except that we didn't bet on anything. Your giving me chocolate would be an act of charity on your part. That, and I'm super hungry." A sickeningly sweet smile spread across his mischievous face and he crawled to the young man. "Just a tiny piece, ok?"
This time, L didn't feel like saying "no" to the boy. Sharing some of his sweets didn't seem like such a bad idea after all. Besides, Watari would just bring him more. "You are very manipulative, Mello," he stated as he pulled a large moist slice of chocolate cake off of his tray and handed it to his wannabe successor. The treat was barely handed off before it was ravaged by that cute little mouth. Chocolate smeared all over that flawless skin and sharp little teeth dug into the cake savagely.
Once the slice was eaten, Mello glanced up and smiled at his friend. Loyal actually looked surprised with the speed he had used to eat that delectable treat. Laughing at the strange expression, Mello leaned forward and pressed a quick peck to the corner of the man's lips. When he leaned back, Mello broke out laughing hard. The look on Loyal's face was priceless.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Watari asked good-naturedly as he walked in with a food cart. Large ornate cakes rested heavily on the top self while bowls of colorful candy and chocolates filled out the rest of the heavy-duty cart.
"Food!" Mello cried in happiness as he jumped up and rushed the cart. L just sat back and brushed his fingers against the wet chocolate smear left by the little fireball.
"Loyal, I've also brought some of the papers you requested," the caretaker hinted. "Would you like me to take Mello away so that you can work?"
"No way," Mello whined. He dropped the candy that he had clenched in both fists and he jumped on the lanky adult. "I haven't been able to see Loyal for years, you can't take him away!"
L just continued to watch silently. "Mello, he's not 'going away', but he needs to do some work. This is very important stuff."
"I don't care!"
"Come now, Mello, you're being unreasonable," Watari said firmly.
"No, you can't make me!" His strong arms wrapped around the thin waist of his friend and Mello buried his face in the soft material of the shirt.
The frown was quite evident on Watari's face, but before he could say anything else, the door slammed open, shocking everyone in the room. Black stilettos led up to fishnet stockings and pale shapely legs and those legs led up to a curvy waist, an ample bosom, cherry red lips, and styled blonde hair. As soon as the person standing in front of him registered, L relaxed and realized that he was squeezing the boy in his arms protectively.
"Did you give me a ring, darling?" the woman asked cockily as she shifted her weight to her right foot. Her crossed arms succeeded in pushing her shapely breasts closer together, clearly showing off her impressive cleavage and leaving nothing to the imagination. "You know how much I just love to be at your every whim." The sarcasm was not lost on the socially retarded genius.
"Who is she?" Mello whispered in a scared voice. That woman was all attitude and she was quite impressive with her over six foot figure.
"Never mind her," L comforted. "She's just a friend."
The woman scoffed at that. "I didn't know that blackmail was the newest way to gain friends forever."
L just shrugged. "Was your flight enjoyable, Wedy?"
"Like hell it was," she complained as she rolled her neck and stretched her back. "What do you need?"
A small smile curled on the strange man's lips as he stared at her overexposed chest. It was kind of…creepy. Wedy sweatdropped. "First of all, if you could shove your breasts back where they belong, inside your shirt if you didn't know, then we can move along to more serious issues."
Watari felt himself blush at L's straightforwardness and he strictly avoided staring at the woman's ample bosom. After all, the last woman he ogled ended up stealing his work, leaving him, having a child (his presumably), and abandoning said child so that he could raise him. Yes, he was definitely keeping his eyes to himself.
Wedy, on the other hand, didn't seem the least bit perturbed. "Just think of this as a little incentive. I'll even offer you a grope if this gets wrapped up today."
"No thank you," L replied immediately. "However, I don't think that you'll have a problem helping me this time."
"Oh really?" she challenged. "What could you possibly offer me that would make this little experience enjoyable? Hot steamy sex?"
Mello wasn't quite sure what this crazy lady was talking about, but he didn't like it. She was staring at Loyal strangely, so in an attempt to protect his friend, he shot her a dirty look and clung to the skinny man possessively. L just smiled mischievously.
"No, this is better. How would you like a chance to catch Succubus?"
Those few words were enough to shut that painted mouth. Wedy's wide eyes stared at L incredulously and for several sweet minutes, she was speechless. When she finally gathered the energy to speak, there was a definite undertone of excitement. "The Succubus?" Seeing the nod, her lips curled up into a competitive and devious smile. "Then I'd be honored to help in any way that I can."
~_~_~_~_~_
Matt was nearly in tears. When he had come back after his shower, he had been shocked to realize that Mello was no longer in the room. Stupidly, he had waited up, hoping to apologize for his strange behavior. Of course, he would lie about the true reason for it, but maybe then Mello wouldn't try to avoid him. Unfortunately, Mello never came back. Instead, hopeless Matt was left to fend for himself yet again. In all honesty, it seemed that his dependence on Mello was growing to unhealthy levels. His hands were shaking badly, he couldn't focus in class, and he couldn't even play his numerous games. Eventually, as the day wore on, he turned to wondering the halls. After several hours (at least he imagined that it was several hours), he stumbled upon the janitor taking a cigarette break. The older man looked up at the surprised boy and he smiled a little as the smoke curled up.
"Can I help you?" he asked calmly, as if a child finding him sneaking a break was no big deal.
"Er, n-no, not really." When was the last time he had a conversation with someone other than Mello?
The man just stared at the weird kid with goggles and Matt just stared back. After a few more minutes, the man patted the floor next to him and Matt automatically took a seat. "You look like you have something on your mind, kid."
Matt stared warily at the man. What if he was a pedophile? "I just…well, it's nothing."
"Suit yourself," the man mumbled. "It's not like I'm a babysitter or anything."
Matt snorted at the idea that the sweaty janitor here would be babysitting geniuses from all over the world. "Lucky for us, eh?"
"Lucky for me," the janitor replied quickly. "Want a light?" he asked as he held out a cigarette. "You look like you could use one."
Staring at the little white stick, Matt felt himself get nervous. He knew that he wasn't supposed to; after all, he was a minor. "W-why would I need one?" he asked curiously. He had never thought about it before, but what was the point of puffing on something that could give you cancer?
"It's just 'cause you looked stressed, guv. If there ever was a miracle drug, it's damned tobacco."
Frowning, Matt took the cigarette. It felt a little squishy in between his fingers, and its white and orange paper didn't seem all that attractive. "I guess I can try it," he mumbled, more to himself than to the janitor. "I mean, what would be the harm?"
"Yeah, just don' go around telling the head here, or I might lose my job." With that, he flicked on his lighter and held it to the tip. "Now just take a little puff; don't try a deep one or you'll choke and look like a fool."
Keeping that in mind, the American brought the cancer stick to his mouth and took the man's advice. Even with the small gulp of smoke, though, threatened to send him into a fit of unmanly coughs. Tears watered his sensitive eyes and his esophagus felt as if it was on fire. It didn't take him long to submit to the temptation and a few feeble coughs made its way through. The janitor just laughed. "Don't worry, you'll get used to that."
Just as he was wondering why he would bother getting used to such a horrid feeling, something pretty amazing happened. A familiar feeling began running through his veins, an artificial calmness that soothed his frayed and inflamed nerves. His eyes fluttered shut as he took in a deeper breath, automatically holding it in for a few seconds before slowly exhaling it. Another rush went through him, bringing goosebumps to his flesh.
"Hehehehe, looks like you enjoy that."
"Mmmm," was the only reply Matt could give. It seemed as if he was melting on the spot.
"Well, don't expect me to be giving you cigs all the time, guv. Just think of this as a little bribe so you don't go blabbing to the head about my extra breaks."
"Mmmhhhmm."
"Wow," was all the older man could say. "I guess you really like it."
Author's Notes: Alright, I have to be completely honest. XD The last chapter was written while I was half-asleep and so was the author's notes. The result? I read over the author's notes and couldn't figure out what the damn I was talking about. Little surprise? WTF? Yes, that was my reaction. Nonetheless, I was able to come up with something and I hope that it was enjoyable. I actually thought that it worked out well.
Next chapter: ...take a wild guess!!!