Yo.

Comede Noctem credited to Der Mondstrahl's fiction Shiny and Blue. Read it if you acknowledge that you have any sense whatsoever! It is utter win. *grins* Beta credit to Skylara, who is one crazy-awesome lass who deserves lots of hugs. Dedicated eternally to SociiallyDiisoriiented, who is just plain kick-arse. And this particular chapter is dedicated to Sheska...hope you feel better soon and may our bunny-hugs continue on in our awesomeness.

Oh, yes, and not Thursday. There is a reason. This reason will probably continue. So...er...yeah.

Ja ne!
UK.

Part III

Chapter Twenty-Four
Exhaustion

His eyes were filled with complete and undeniable terror.

It haunted him, knowing that he was leaving the man he loved to die alone without a hand to hold onto or a warm set of arms to fall into. He would dream about that moment, feeling the overwhelming guilt because he didn't know if he would be able to save his life.

Harry ran.

The plan was simple.

Watch Rem from underneath the Invisibility Cloak as intently as possible. Make sure she doesn't so much as twitch without noting it, and if she leaves the room, follow her. If Watari and-or I are compromised...it is of vital importance to watch the shinigami regardless of the outcome, and if she leaves the room or dies, the existence of the Death Note must be accounted for. The notebook, if it is up for taking, must be taken before the investigation, or especially Raito, can get their hands on it, for it could get disastrous if that happened. After the Death Note is accounted for, and only then, turn to me and resurrect me if possible.

Easier said than done.

Breathe.

He had already preformed a charm that would silence his footsteps, which benefited him at that moment. He had to be as fast as possible as he ran towards the exit of the room, heading to the door that would allow entrance into the room where Rem had slipped into. He knew that he had to get to her, because what she was doing was affecting Kira's lifespan and she had told him that such an act was fatal to her.

She hadn't said anything about what happened to her own personal Death Note.

They had to know.

Just as Harry reached the doorway leading out of the main terminal, he heard Ryuzaki's words fade away and a chair scrape, along with a simultaneous cry of "Ryuzaki?"

Harry choked back the scream that echoed in his head, his body immediately slumping against himself in agony and fear as he knew...

He nearly turned back, his entire form fighting to get back to the side of Ryuzaki despite the cost, but he knew that the Death Note had to be in his possession if he could. Ryuzaki had demanded it, insisted on him making sure that no one would be able to get their hands on another spare notebook, especially Raito.

Breathe.

He forced himself to move faster, choking back a sob as tears began running hot down his cheeks. He forgot to be quiet as he ran the small way to the door down the hall leading to a room filled with files, where Rem had disappeared into, banging into the wall and nearly breaking through the door in his haste. He all but tore down the door, his blurry green gaze taking in the room with a frantic intent, and he spotted a glittering pile of sand lying, out of place, in the middle of the aisle.

In the middle was a black, slightly open notebook.

It hadn't been destroyed after all. Ryuzaki had presumed correctly.

Harry was already rushing down the aisle while ripping off the cloak. He grasped the book without looking inside and immediately began sprinting back down the hall, nearly tripping over a box filled with olive green files. He frantically pulled out his wand and hissed, "Evanesco!" watching the notebook and his Invisibility Cloak vanish into thin air.

There was a scream from the main terminal room, echoing down the hallways and screeching in Harry's brain.

Breathe.

He turned on his heel and bolted, making sure to secure the door behind him.

It seemed to take ages to get to the room. It was like one of those dreams he had during his fifth year at Hogwarts, where the hallway leading to the door of the Department of Mysteries just stretched on and on, taking forever to reach the handle. He could see them from a distance, completely focussed on Raito screaming about how they were next, but he couldn't seem to reach them. Almost agonisingly slow, it crept closer and closer and—

He burst into the room and roared, "Shut the fuck up, you stupid child, and get the hell away from him!"

Harry practically slid across the floor he was running so fast, and when he dropped to his knees he really did slide. Ryuzaki was lying limp in Raito's arms, eyes closed and his chest not moving, fingers lightly curled in death.

He all but tore Ryuzaki's body from Raito's grasp and bellowed, "Find the shinigami! Find her now!"

Soichiro, Aizawa, and Raito moved immediately, rushing through the room to various exits to search the complex for the shinigami, who had just conveniently disappeared. Raito shot like a bullet towards the hallway Harry had just come from, his eyes intent on the wall that hid the room the shinigami had disappeared into. As for Mogi and Matsuda, they both hesitated, seemingly wanting to help Ryuzaki even though he was past saving by their means.

Harry himself stood up, carrying the limp body in his arms as he fled from the room.

The second he was out of sight, he was ripping out his wand and whispering a rushed silencing charm around his immediate area. Then, with a deep breath, he turned on the spot and Apparated to the control room.

He hit the ground hard, his wand already waving and flicking frantically as he worked with a lightening-fast pace. The spells hissed out of his mouth like snakes, even though he wasn't able to speak Parseltongue since the Horcrux in his body had been destroyed.

Another voice, this one determined and higher-pitched, began whispering spells, some more verbal than others, and the two of them worked to the point where Harry's fingers burned with the amount of magic being pushed through his wand's core.

Then Hermione muttered, "Move."

He backed away as she tapped her wand almost as if it was beating his chest. Ryuzaki's body jerked once, twice, and then she smiled weakly, her fingers to his throat.

Harry finally broke down into choked, fiercely deep sobs.

Harry blinked slowly and rubbed his temple.

"So she did disintegrate then," he asked, his question such a faultless lie of omission that it was almost ridiculous. His tone was thick, deep, and filled with so-obvious pain that it made Matsuda let out a small, almost pathetic sound in grief. "Where is her Death Note?"

"There wasn't anything there. We think it probably disintegrated with her." Soichiro's words were truthful, as were Raito's eyes. The caramel-coloured orbs were slightly unfocussed, whether from sorrow at the fact that Ryuzaki was dead or his brain going through plans Harry didn't know.

He was probably wondering why Rem had attacked Ryuzaki and Watari, but had just left out Harry, who had obviously been a huge factor in the investigation and had been named as successor in an impromptu manner.

"Okay," Harry said tiredly. His body felt heavy, mostly because this wasn't over yet. He had no idea if something else was planned, if he was missing something of vital importance that would be of extreme concern, if Watari and Ryuzaki were going to die.

"Is Ryuzaki..." whimpered Matsuda, eyes large and slightly watery.

Harry's gaze went blurry, and he said, "Yes."

"Talk to me Hermione."

She snapped her teeth together, took a short breath, and then exhaled slowly, the air whistling. Eventually, she said in her doctor voice, "I've put both of them in magical comas. Watari had a stroke almost right after. I nearly didn't..." She took a deep breath to collect herself yet again. "He died, I brought him back okay, but then the blood being pumped back through his body caused some of the dead tissue to break off and he had a brain embolism. He started seizing, and I thought...I really thought he was going to die."

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Harry, so mortally exhausted that he felt like lead.

She hesitated, and then said, "I don't know. There's nothing I can do after this. Just have to make sure that he stays in his coma for now to give his body time to heal as much as possible and make sure to keep him as comfortable as possible. I'm not sure if there will be any lasting effects or brain damage, and he's so old. You've said that he's had a heart attack before, but with having another one at his age along with a stroke and having to restart his body twice...I just worry. I don't think we should keep him here. I'd like to transport him to St. Mungo's."

Harry's eyes flickered to the left.

He didn't have to speak—she just knew. She always had and always would just know. Hermione said, "He's fine as far as I know. Of course, I'm giving him a day or so before taking him out of the coma, because even if he's lucid, he might panic and try to rip out his endotracheal tube. That would not be good because he could go into shock."

Harry let out a small whimper that Hermione probably heard, but didn't comment on. "Are you sure we need that thing anyway? Surely he can breathe on his own, right, and besides, I don't like that thing in there. Surely there's magic that you can use..."

"I've been drilling this into the heads of the Healers at St. Mungo's too, Harry. It's important to try and use as little magic as possible on Muggles. You should know this. Too much magic in his body, which is not used to such a presence being in there, is dangerous."

"Hermione," Harry said in a voice that was clearly doubtful, "We've used magic on Muggles before. Throughout our lives, we've hit them with memory charms and Merlin knows what else, so I think a breathing charm would be better than having that tube in his throat."

Her chocolate eyes closed, showing the signs of exhaustion in the form of dark circles and pale skin. He didn't like her looking like that, because it reminded him so much of the time during the War. "Harry," she finally said, "I'd rather be safe than sorry. Overloading a Muggle body with magic is dangerous, and any Healer will tell you that. Muggles can't filter out magic the same way we can, and sometimes they can't filter it out at all. If we pump too much into him at once, he could go into shock and that would be harmful. I've already put a lot into him to heal as much of the heart damage as I can besides the chemical coma. I don't want to push it, Harry."

"During the war, we—"

She interrupted with a slightly raised voice, "The only reason we did it so extensively to Muggles during the War was because we had no choice, and I to this day still feel regret for it. I still don't know how many people went away from those mass-modifications with their minds completely intact, and I know some went insane and even died because of it. I know seeing him like that worries you, but we have to be safe, and this is the best way right now."

Harry wanted to argue, but he didn't. He had always been under the impression that Muggles weren't any more in danger from being hit with magic than wizards were, but he wasn't as studious as Hermione, nor was he a Healer.

He sighed, long and deep.

"Thank you for being here, Hermione."

She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder, both of them watching the comatose men in their respective beds that Hermione had conjured.

6 November 2004

Hermione removed the tube and still Ryuzaki slept.

His chest was bruised from the shocks, but it was superficial and would heal. Hermione had healed as much of the internal damage as she could, but eventually she had done all she felt comfortable doing, and had decided to finally wean him out of the coma after removing the tube.

Watari was prepared for the journey to England, his elderly face horribly pale. Hermione was worried, Harry could tell, and he wondered if Watari would die. He was so old, so fragile, and to keep him alive in such a state was a precarious thing. He wasn't as strong as Ryuzaki was, and that was a huge cause for concern.

Harry told her to keep him alive no matter the cost, even if it was just until Ryuzaki could see him. If Watari didn't improve, Ryuzaki would have to deal with that.

Harry prayed to a god he didn't believe in that Watari would heal.

Harry had been in and out of the complex, running back and forth between Ryuzaki, the investigation team that was in limbo, and to England, where he had been talking himself hoarse. It had taken Mr. Weasley five hours of paperwork and horribly sudden meetings with the Japanese Minister of Magic to get the Medical Portkey taken care of. After all, if Hermione had made one, even for a legal transport of a patient to England, Magical-Japan would've probably declared a state of emergency and blown down the door to the complex.

They couldn't Apparate Watari nor use a regular Portkey, so they had to make a quick and rushed plea of temporary bargaining to get MedPort made. Although Japan wasn't aware of whom the patient was, they had made an exception when they found out who was transporting him.

The name Hermione Granger-Weasley went a long way in the Wizarding world, even when it wasn't attached to Harry's (since he was still technically here as a Muggle, and wanted to keep it that way for as long as he was able).

She waved her wand as Harry thought about the future. The press would be everywhere at St. Mungo's—after all, the entire Weasley family had quite suddenly disappeared from their lives, and everyone who read the Prophet now probably knew that Hermione was transporting a patient from Japan to the infamous hospital in London. Hermione had already placed the necessary protection in place around Watari, making sure that no one would be able to take a picture of him with his real face, and had arranged for a completely private room to be made Unplottable and put under the Fidelius Charm, with herself as the Secret-Keeper. Every precaution was being taken to make sure that his identity remained secret, and when Ryuzaki visited (probably by Apparation, the poor thing, because they wouldn't have time to fly out until after the case was solved), he would be put under even more protection.

Thankfully, there hadn't been even a whisper of Rita's article in the papers, nor had Dolores Umbridge made a move as far as they knew.

Harry walked to the conjured medical bed and gently picked up Ryuzaki, who was still limp but breathing-breathing-breathing, and so very much alive. Now that he was officially sleeping and breathing on his own, Harry felt it safe to move him, and he did so, carefully placing him in the centre of Harry's bed.

His emerald eyes watched him endlessly as he pulled the blanket over Ryuzaki, his fingers brushing feather-light against his skin as he tucked him in.

Finally, he stood up reluctantly and pulled Hermione into a long, bone-crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hermione. I love you so much, you know that right?"

She sniffled and he felt the shoulder of his shirt get wet with her tears.

"Of course I do, silly," she said in a thick, wet voice. "Just so you know, when this is over, I expect you to take me to Comede Noctem on your Galleon."

Harry groaned.

The mood was solemn.

Harry hadn't made much of an effort to hide his raw and puffy eyes from the others. There wasn't any reason to; he didn't particularly feel composed, but that was okay because it wasn't a secret that Harry had been very close to Ryuzaki.

Closer than all the others, in ways that had not been discussed amongst them.

After a long time of silence, Matsuda finally spoke up in a voice that was remarkably quiet, "We should have a funeral for them, for Ryuzaki and Watari."

Harry, who had been blindly staring at the dark screens in the main control terminal, let out a small sigh and closed his eyes. He took off his glasses, absently cleaning them on his oddly cheery yellow long-sleeve, and debated on how to go about this.

He said in a tired voice, "That won't be necessary. I'm dealing with this how Ryuzaki wanted it done if such a situation...happened." The break in his voice was genuine, because that situation still could happen to Watari. He wasn't out of the woods yet at all, and even Ryuzaki would be feeling the backlash from his heart attack for a long time.

"And what is that?" asked Raito. "We all want to pay our respects to him."

In an obviously irritated voice, Harry said, "You can do that just as well from where you're sitting, Raito. Don't worry about the details behind the scenes. I've got it covered, and that's all you need to know." Perhaps Harry wasn't as nice as he always had been, but he wasn't called out for it. Good thing too, because Harry wasn't in the mood to play nice.

"So you're the new L then?" asked Soichiro. He hesitated slightly and then eventually continued, "It's what Ryuzaki wanted."

Harry put his glasses back on. As he stared at the reflection of the others and himself in the biggest monitor, he said, "I suppose I am."

Silence echoed yet again in the room, as everyone processed that bombshell. It was the statement that was more important than anything said in this room before, of knowing officially that Ryuzaki was gone from the case.

As far as they knew anyway; however it was still going to be hard without him here.

His insanity had been a central part of how the investigation team had worked as a unit, after all.

"So what do you want to do, James-san?" asked Matsuda.

Harry didn't even have the heart to huff about the honorific. Instead, he looked straight at Raito.

"We," he said in a hard, dedicated voice, "are going to test the thirteen-day rule."

Later that evening, Harry lay down beside Ryuzaki and slept.

It was fitful and restless, and he awoke from his light sleep over a dozen times just to make sure Ryuzaki was still breathing, still alive. He was, every single time, his chest falling up and down steadily and his pulse still beating soundly in his neck, but that didn't stop Harry from waking up sporadically to check.

It was the fourteenth time this had happened when Harry saw half-lidded charcoal eyes blankly focussed on the ceiling. Harry started almost violently, and was immediately taking his pulse and whispering, "Hey, can you talk to me? Talk to me Ryuzaki, please just talk to me and tell me you can speak."

Ryuzaki's dark eyes rolled onto Harry's face sluggishly, his entire body lax. Hermione had warned Harry about this, that Ryuzaki would wake up terribly exhausted, and would most likely spend a few days in bed (Harry had found that hard to imagine, but now he was fully convinced that it might end up that way). She had told him to get him to talk, ask him various questions to make sure that he had brain function, just in case something had gone wrong while in a coma.

A low, tired voice said, "Harry," and said wizard let out a choked exhale of air, gently pulling Ryuzaki into an embrace. For a long moment, Harry just held on, before he finally decided to speak again.

"See, I saved you, although Hermione had a gigantic part in it," he said into Ryuzaki's thick mass of hair, trying to control the emotion that was seeping into his tone. He felt about ready to break down, but he needed to get his act together. He needed to pull strong and help Ryuzaki heal, and then he had to catch the sonofabitch who had killed the love of his life.

"Harry," Ryuzaki said again, in that same exhausted voice.

"Hmm? Do you need something?" asked Harry, finally pulling away and staring at Ryuzaki's face. "Hermione told me to bombard you with questions, because you were in a coma and we have to make sure you have total brain function."

Something in Ryuzaki's worn out charcoal eyes flickered, something akin to panic, which Harry expected. However, he blinked slowly, as if it was dreadfully hard to open them back up, and eventually said, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Harry stared at him for a long moment before he started to laugh.

It had been such a shocking statement, definitely not the first sentence that he expected Ryuzaki to say, and he just couldn't help himself. He heard Ryuzaki say in his trademark you're-an-idiot drawl, although it was thick with exhaustion, "Normally I would be intrigued by your strange amusement, but I'm a bit preoccupied by the fact that my body is about ready to urinate on you, Harry."

Still chortling, he grasped his wand and managed to mutter a breathless spell under his breath. Almost immediately, Ryuzaki's face went from exhausted and uncomfortable to even more exhausted and relaxed.

"I think you're okay, Ryuzaki," Harry said with a smile that was slightly twisted with worry as he thought of Watari in London. "You should sleep now. I'll fill you in on all of the extra details later, but for now you need to rest. You died yesterday, and you need to let your body heal."

"But what...about Wammy?" Ryuzaki asked in a thick mumble, practically asleep in Harry's arms.

Harry blinked at the name, for the first time recalling Rem's Death Note, which was currently Vanished into non-being until Harry decided to call it back. Ryuzaki's true name was in there, and so was Watari's (Wammy's?) and...that name sounded really familiar to Harry but he couldn't remember where he had heard it. Well, besides Ryuzaki's explanation of Wammy's House, which was in Winchester, but Harry hadn't realised that it had been named after Watari himself.

Harry had definitely heard that name before, other than in Ryuzaki's explanation.

"He's alive. He's still in a coma, and we've transported him to St. Mungo's in London for more specialised care." Ryuzaki's body tensed in his grasp, so Harry continued hastily, "He's going to be okay. He had to be brought back twice, because the heart attack caused a stroke, so he's really weak right now, but he's alive with normal brain function. Hermione thought it would be wise to keep him there for her constant care in an actual hospital. He's under the best protection we can even contemplate, so you don't have to worry. You just work on getting better, and when you're ready, we can go visit him."

Ryuzaki let out a low mumble that Harry couldn't even decipher despite his sensitive hearing. However, his thin body did slump in Harry's arms, so he just pressed a small kiss to Ryuzaki's forehead and then pulled him close. With his nose once again buried in Ryuzaki's thick hair, he said softly, "Just rest, and then we'll discuss everything when you're lucid, okay? Everything is under control, so you don't have to worry"

"Okay," Ryuzaki breathed out almost inaudibly, already growing more lax as he began to drift off. "You better not be lying to me. I...will kick you."

Harry smiled against the detective's hair and replied, "I'm not." Then he closed his eyes and said, "I love you."

This time, with his arms tightly secured around the love of his life, Harry Potter slept like the dead.

And now that I remember, comas aren't things to joke about. It's not like the movies. You don't just hop up with full consciousness and just sleep a bit. Comas are long, disorientating, and you sleep for a fucking week despite insomnia. Trust me—I've been in three in my longish-short life, so I know what I'm talking about. Comas fuck you up, so no complaining about L's slip (because he most certainly wouldn't be doing that otherwise) or his sudden lack on insomnia.

Karasu out.