Hey everyone!
So this is the Christmas special I said that I would post! Or rather, the first part:) This is going to be a two-part special and I really hope you guys all enjoy! I've been having so much fun writing this special, the interactions between Faith and other characters has been really fun to write! This special will take place after Faith has regained her sight, so I hope you all enjoy this special being written from a new perspective for her.
The second part will be posted shortly after Christmas (or at least, Christmas for my timezone lol) so keep a eye out for for the next update!
Christmas Chaos (A Death Note Christmas Special Part One)
Faith- 22
L- 27
Mello-18
Matt-17
Near-16
Faith was cuddled up under her covers, drifting pleasantly in that place between sleep and awake. Her room was quiet and although Ryuzaki was already gone, more then likely downstairs working on his cases, she was still comfortable and more then content to remain in her warm bed.
However, that peace was painfully short lived.
Outside of her room somewhere in the house she heard a thunk and a whirr, Faith opening one eye as she listened intently and tried to figure out what that was. Moments later there was a sound like a tiny engine being revved, followed by a positively girlish shriek. Both eyes were open now and she sat up wide eyed, staring at the closed door with dread and resignation.
"...YOU MORON YOU FORGOT THE LID!"
Faith let out a groan and tipped backwards, her back and head landing against the pillow as she squeezed her eyes shut. She was suddenly hit with a very strong urge to go back to sleep and pretend she had never woken up in the first place.
"MELLO! IT'S EVERYWHERE! WHAT DO WE DO?!"
Matt's panicked shout made Faith grimace before burrowing deeper into her blankets and pulling the covers to her ears before stuffing her head under her pillow. Maybe if they couldn't see her they would think she wasn't here...
"FAITH!"
The sound of her name being shouted by three panicked voices was accompanied by the sound of what sounded like a herd of elephants stampeding down the hallway before her door was thrown open and someone grabbed the pillow over her head and pulled it free.
"Faith you gotta get up!" Matt exclaimed.
Faith sat upright to see Matt standing at her side with wild eyes. Out in the hall she could hear Mello and Near shouting about something and with a tiny half-sob Faith climbed out of her bed, resigned to the fact that her day was about to start with complete and utter chaos.
"Who-...what's on your shirt? And in your hair?!"
Matt looked down at his shirt that had a strange gloopy substance splattered across the front.
"It doesn't matter! Come on!" He said hurriedly, throwing her pillow to the side and grabbing her arm, dragging her down the hall towards the kitchen where she could hear something whirring and the boys making some rather unmanly sounding shrieks.
"What on-...OH MY GOD!"
Nothing the boys had done in the past prepared her for the sight that met her eyes when she rounded the corner to the kitchen only to duck back behind the safety of a wall, watching wide eyed as strange gloop the colour of sesame paste was splattering around the room.
"TURN IT OFF YOU IDIOT!" Mello shrieked, hitting a impressive falsetto.
"I'm trying!" Near snapped back, his tone frantic as he slapped at a mixer without a lid that was currently spraying stuff everywhere.
"The plug!" Matt yelled and Near reached around, yanking the cord out of the wall.
Instantly the mixer powered down and the room fell quiet as the three boys let out a relieved sighs.
"What. The. Hell."
The deadly calm voice that sounded from the doorway reminded the three teens of the presence of Faith, their doombringer and simultaneously all three boys froze before turning slowly to face Faith as she stepped out from behind the fall to survey her kitchen.
"What, exactly, were you doing with my kitchen?" She questioned softly.
"...baking cookies?"
"Baking cookies." She echoed, a air of stunned disbelief in her tone as she gazed at the kitchen.
There was cookie dough everywhere. The walls were coated with it, her oven and dishwasher looked as though they had been bathed in it, the ceiling was coated and her island was dripping with it. Her fridge had escaped for the most part with just a few splatterers.
Her eyes fell to the floor which was coated with a mixture of raw cookie dough and flour that was pouring out of the flour bag tipped over on the island in a steady stream.
Finally her gaze landed on Mello, Matt and Near who stood in the centre of the mess. Near's usually pristine and white clothes were covered with raw cookie dough, although mercifully his hair was not since for some strange reason he was wearing a Santa hat. Mello was also covered, his black clothes somehow managing to change colour, although it looked like he had managed to keep it away from his face and hair for the most part
Matt was not so lucky. His grey sweats were utterly soaked in cookie dough and so were his socks. But worst of all was his hair, the raw dough was coating his hair, clinging tightly to the strands.
"I...I am at a loss for words. I did not think it was humanly possible to cause this much chaos while making cookies. I have been proven wrong." Faith said in a dazed voice as she slowly reached over and grabbed the phone, dialing the extension for Ryuzaki's line downstairs.
"Yes?"
"Hon, you need to get up here. You are not going to believe this."
The look on Ryuzaki's face when he saw the state of her kitchen would have been utterly comical had Faith not still been in shock.
"Do I want to know how this happened?" He finally asked, resting his thumb against his bottom lip as he survayed the room.
"Apparently they were trying to bake cookies. And now, they will be cleaning themselves up from the cookie. " Faith said firmly.
"I will return downstairs then.' Ryuzaki's decided, moving to step back and leave.
"Oh no you don't. Go get my cellphone for me first, I want a picture of this." Faith said, intercepting her husband.
"A PICTURE?!" Mello squawked.
Faith turned to him with a fierce look and his mouth clicked shut.
"You did this to my kitchen! It's only fair that I get a picture!"
Mello grumbled but grudgingly stayed still as Ryuzaki's returned with her small cellphone and glared mutinously at the camera as she snapped a picture.
"This is going to be my new wallpaper." She said teasingly, finally starting to recover from her shock.
Mello snarled and Faith laughed as she looked over at the clock.
"Well, the cleaners certainly will be delighted with the extra bonus they receive for having to clean this." Faith said with a good natured sigh before looking over at the boys.
"Go clean up in your bathrooms. Just pile your dirty clothes in the corner of your bathroom to be picked up by the housekeeper." Faith looked up at Matt who reached up to touch his hair with a grimace.
"You might need some help getting that out. Go ahead and change and then I'll help you work that out of your hair."
"You'll help me clean this up? A free hair massage! Sweet!"
Mello rolled his eyes at his auburn haired friend and shoved past him, the three of them hurried off to their bedroom and leaving Faith and Ryuzaki alone at the mouth of the kitchen. They stood motionless for a few moments, staring at the room in silence before Faith turned to Ryuzaki. Another beat of silence then Faith burst into laughter, doubling over as she clutched her middle.
"T-they covered the kitchen in cookie dough! H-how did they even make that much of a mess?!" Faith gasped out, tipping sideways to lean against Ryuzaki who twitched in surprise at the sudden contact.
"Shall we watch the surveillance tape later?" Her husband asked.
"Absolutely."
They shared a laugh before Ryuzaki wished her luck and left, returning back downstairs to work. He had just gotten back from a trip overseas to solve a case and had a lot of solve-from-home cases he needed to take care of before Christmas.
Mere minutes passed before there was a click as the cleaning staff let themselves in with the staff key. When they saw Faith waiting for them the two staff members exchanged looks of mild dread.
"Did one of the guys make a mess with a experiment again?" Loli, the older of the two siblings that cleaned her house hesitantly questioned.
Faith's lips twitched before she gestured to the kitchen and the staff members eyes bugged out of their heads.
"What happened?!" Stephan asked, his jaw hanging agape.
Faith giggled softly.
"A cookie baking catastrophe. You guys will be getting extra pay for this." Faith assured them.
The staff members exchanged looks before Loli nodded and gave a good natured sigh.
"We'll get started then Yagami-san."
Faith smiled warmly as she walked away to let the cleaners do their job. She could hear Mello muttering from out in the hall and had to swallow a laugh as she went to her room and looked through her drawers until she found a old comb that had been given to her and she had never used due to disliking the feel of the handle. It would be perfect for combing the bits of raw cookie out of the gamers hair.
"HEY FAITH! CAN YOU HELP ME GET THE DOUGH OUT NOW?!" Matt hollered from his room.
With another muffled laugh she hurried down the hall to his room, pushing open the door to see Matt standing in the door of his bathroom looking slightly disgruntled as he flicked tiny bits of raw dough off his bare shoulder.
"I can't put on a shirt unless I want cookie dough getting into it. As it is I think my other sweatshirt might be ruined."
Faith laughed and followed him to the bathroom where he looked at her expectantly.
"How do I get this stuff out of my hair?"
"Kneel down in front of the tub and let your head hang over so I can reach your hair. Do you have shampoo I can use on you?"
He nodded and grabbed a shampoo bottle from his shower before tossing it to Faith who somehow managed to catch it. When she looked back up at him she did so in the perfect timing, watching as a piece of cookie dough slid down his bangs directly in front of is face to cling to the ends of his hair and hang back in forth.
Faith's face went slightly red as she attempted to hold back her laughter, but she ended up losing the battle when Matt crossed his eyes to stare at the cookie dough as it released Matt's bangs to land on the end of his nose with a wet plop.
""Y-you look like one of those dogs who have a treat on the end of their nose and are going cross eyed staring at it until they're allowed to eat it!"
Matt stopped staring at the dough and shot her a black look.
"Don't look at me like that, I wasn't the one who did this to your hair." Faith said mildly as she gestured for him to sit down next to the large tub.
He did as gestured and leaned back against it, tipping his head over the lip as she knelt at his side, examining his hair intently.
"What did you do, stick your head in the mixer as you turned it on?"
Matt grumbled someone intelligible and she grinned as she grabbed the shower head that was attached to a holder next to the faucet.
"I still don't understand the point of buying a tub with a shower head when you have a shower not even three feet away." Faith muttered to herself.
"...I tried to cover the opening with my hands as Near tried to turn off the mixer." Matt suddenly said from below her as Faith adjusted the tempature of the water before using the shower head to soak Matt's hair.
"What?"
"You asked me how I got it in my hair. I was panicking because I thought you would freak if it got all over the kitchen so I tried to cover the top with my hands and acidentally directed the cookiedough through a small gap in my hands and into my hair. That's when I leaped back and it got all over the kitchen."
"So you were the one who shrieked." Faith deduced, working the shampoo into his cookie coated hair and watching with slight amusement as Matt relaxed at the sensation before stiffening and glaring up at her once again.
"I didn't shriek. I shouted."
Faith laughed.
"You know, you could have simply put the lid on the mixer to stop it from spraying. For geniuses you guys are awful at baking."
Matt snorted and closed his eyes before they shot open again and he jerked up with a yelp as cool water accidentally splashed onto his chest and face.
"Oy!"
"Sorry." She murmured distractedly, focused on his hair as she began to slowly work the comb through the ends, getting the cookie dough out.
Matt gave a dramatic sigh before suddenly reaching back and batting at the hand that was holding the shower head, causing it to jerk and splash her with water.
"HEY!" She cried as water soaked into the collar of her navy fuzzy pyjamas that she realized she still hadn't changed our of.
"And these were warm too..." She grumbled. "Oh, Light called last night. He wants to know if you and Mello want to come Christmas shopping with him and I this afternoon. I waited for you and Mello to come home yesterday but once midnight rolled around I couldn't stay up any longer to ask you."
Then she glanced down at him.
"Speaking of which, I think I'm going to be establishing a new rule. If your going to be out later then eleven you need to call and give a time when you think you will be home."
Matt nodded before smiling up at her slightly.
"Yeah, we'll do that. Mello might grump but he'll do it as well. And to answer your question, yes I'd be happy to come with you guys. Will L or Near be coming?"
"No, Ryuzaki has a lot of work that he wants to get done before Christmas, plus he isn't fond of the Christmas chaos, he prefers having personal space. And you already know about Near's social anxiety so it probably isn't all that surprising that he isn't coming. Anyway, I'm almost done, then you should probably take a shower and really wash your hair to get out any oily residue once I get all the dough out."
"Hmm...hey Faith?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you doing this? Not that I don't appreciate it, but I am capable of doing it myself if nessesary."
Faith smiled.
"What, and miss the chance to play with your hair? Your hair is silky and fun to play with, and it would be more difficult for you to get it out when you can't see the top of your head. It's much easier for someone to get the dough out and then leave you to finish washing your hair."
Faith finished with a triumphant sound as she did one last rinse of his now cookie dough free hair. She placed the comb on a little rack in the tub to dry before putting the shower head back on it's holder and standing, handing Matt a towel as he stood up next to her. He grinned and lowered his head, shaking it roughly from side to side and laughing as Faith yelped and leapt back from the sudden spray of cold water.
"Matt!"
The teen that had become like one of her little brothers simply took a mock threatening step forward, his eyes glittering mischievously.
"My hair can soak up a impressive amount of water. I'm sure I've got enough in there to at least get you a little wet."
Faith shook her head and backed away, her soft laugh filling the area as she fled from his room and out into the hall.
"Get ready so that we can go to the mall you brat!" She called to him, her eyes glittering with amusement.
His chortles echoed out into the hall and she shook her head with a fond smile before walking down the hall towards her room.
"What's that about the mall?"
Faith glanced over to see Mello walk out of his room, seeming slightly better tempered then he had earlier.
"Light called last night to see if you and Matt wanted to go to the mall with us. I just asked Matt and he said yes, are you going to come as well?"
Mello started to shake his head before pausing as he glanced at the Christmas decoration on the wall behind her.
"Hey...isn't this your first time going to the stores since they've been decorated for Christmas and you've regained your sight?"
Faith nodded, brows furrowed in puzzlement at his question.
"Yes it is. Why?"
He opened his mouth before closing it and simply shrugging.
"Just curious. And yeah, I'll come. I have nothing better to do anyways."
Faith smiled brightly at hearing that.
"Really? Awesome! I'll go get changed so we can go!"
"So who's car are we taking?" Matt asked Mello as the three of them walked into the underground parking lot.
"Is Light supposed to pick us up or something?" Mello asked Faith, ignoring Matt's questions.
"No, we're meeting him there." Faith answered, glancing around.
"Exactly...so who's car are we taking?" Matt asked again.
Mello was quiet for a moment as they reached where their vehicles were sitting before pausing and turning to look at Faith.
"I have a idea. You take your car...and I'll take Faith on my motorcycle."
"WHAT?!" Faith and Matt shouted at the same time.
Mello smirked.
"You heard me. You've been on my baby with me, Ryuzaki went on it with me once when I bribed him with a specialty strawberry cheesecake and wouldn't tell him where I got it, heck Near's even ridden on it once with me! Faith needs a chance."
Faith gaped at him before transferring her look over to the powerful and rather large black motorcycle that was parked several feet away.
"You want me, to get on that?!"
Mello smirked again.
"Yes."
Faith's eyes widened and she stared at the black bike that had become Mello's life since he got it.
"I don't know..."
"I want to take you to the mall on it. You don't have to ride back with me if you don't want to, but I'd like to take you just for one trip."
Faith paused before glancing up at Mello. His tone was almost hopeful. She saw a glint of...something in his eyes. Something more warm and soft then usual.
"You know what? I have Life insurance. Let's do this."
Mello appeared startled for a moment before he gave a small smile.
"Awesome. You'll fit the smaller helmet perfectly, come on."
Faith followed him over to his motercycle where there was a steel cabinet bolted to the wall behind. He pulled a set of complex shaped keys out from his jacket pocket and unlocked the cabinet before withdrawing a blue helmet and turning to Faith, reaching over and gently placing it over her head. It fit comfortably enough, although it felt weird.
The sounds became greatly muted and she stood still as Mello adjusted the straps and buckles under her neck and shifted the helmet until he seemed satisfied and grabbed his own helmet.
"Can you hear me?"
When Mello's voice crackled in her ear Faith nearly jumped a mile and she heard the teen in front of her chuckle softly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You have a speaker inside your helmet so that we can communicate. I turned it on when I adjusted your helmet."
"A speaker? That's convenient."
A huff of amusement and Mello reached back into the cabinet to withdraw a jacket and held it out to Faith.
"So you don't get cold."
Faith accepted the jacket and pulled it on, doing it up as he locked up his cabinet before watching through the visor as Mello swung onto his bike and turned it on, the motorcycle revving to life. Faith paled slightly. She couldn't believe she was doing this. The crazy things she did for her family...
"Go ahead and swing on behind me."
She was pulled out of her thoughts by Mello turning back to look at her as he spoke. Faith examined the back of the bike where she was supposed to sit before going over and carefully climbing on behind Mello, shifting until she was sitting fully in her seat.
"Where do I hold on?"
"Either to me or to the gas tank in front of me." Mello told her.
Faith examined both options before loosely looping her arms around Mello's waist and looking over at a smirking Matt who was leaning against his car with a slightly terrified expression.
"Don't worry, Mello's an ace driver on that thing. A couple of the guys we used to go to school with had motorcycles and I would never trust my life to any of them, but I've ridden with Mello plenty of times before and he drives like a intelligent human being. You'll be safer on that motorcycle then you even would be in a taxi."
"G-good to know." Faith muttered.
Suddenly the motorcycle began to move, making Faith yelp slightly and Mello chuckle again.
"Relax. I'm not going to pull any stunts, especially with a passenger."
Faith took a deep breath and let it out as he carefully pulled out of his parking spot and they rumbled slowly through the garage to the entrance where the parking garage manager opened the gates for them. Faith tensed in preparation as Mello prepared to pull onto the street, the large motorcycle under her rumbling through her body.
"Oh my god!"
Faith's shriek was accompanied by a suddenly bone-crushing grip around Mello's waist and Faith's helmet pressed into his back as she attempted not to hyperventilate.
"Too fast! Yeah waaaay to fast! Fast, really fast. I am going to die on this thing fast." Faith chanted in a high pitched whisper.
She could feel Mello vibrating with laughter but ignored him in preference for praying to God that she would survive this ride. Suddenly the bike turned and began to slow to a much more calm and leisurely pace. Faith did not lift her head or loosen her grip, but she was now capable of thinking thoughts about things other then her impending doom.
"Mello! Matt said you drove like a sane person and you said you would be careful! That was way above the speed limit!"
Mello laughed again.
"Actually, that was the speed limit. The limit was 40km like it is in all the urban areas in Tokyo, I was going exactly forty while all the cars were going faster. If I had gone any slower I would have been a road hazard. I'm going slow now because I'm on a empty side road and I can go slower while you get accustom to the feeling of being on the bike."
Faith blinked, staring fixedly at the black leather coat through her visor.
"Promise?"
"You sound like a kid making their parent promise to get them candy. How can a twenty two year old woman possibly achieve that little-child soft innocent tone?!"
Faith pointedly ignored his statement and he gave a soft snort of amusement before speaking again.
"Hey, you should lift your head. I think you'll really like the view you get on the back of a bike."
Faith contemplated that suggestion for a moment before slowly raising her head and glancing hesitantly to her right. Almost instantly she forgot her hesitation as she realized they were passing a green space and her head shot up as she looked around eagerly.
"This is beautiful!"
"Right?"
Faith bobbed her head in a nod and slowly started looking around, her body slowly relaxing as she took in her surroundings. In a car you were able to see most of your surroundings and enjoy them to a degree, but being on the back of the bike like this was amazing.
"Wow..."
"Yeah. But uh, Faith?"
"Yes?"
"You mind loosening your grip just a tad? For such a little person you have a iron grip and it sort of feels like your trying to force me to regurgitate my breakfast."
Faith blinked in confusion before giving a soft oh and loosening the death grip she had around his waist.
"Sorry."
Mello laughed and sped up slightly, Faith tensing before relaxing again.
"I'm going to pull back out onto the Main Street again so we can get to the mall. You okay with that?"
Faith gave a hesitant sound of agreement and Mello picked up more speed before turning and taking them right onto a Main Street. Faith watched the cars whip by them wide-eyed and finally had to close her eyes and simply lean with Mello as they drove. Her heart was threatening to put her into cardiac arrest if she watched those cars passing them.
"Your closing your eyes, aren't you?"
Faith nodded against where her head was resting on his coat and she heard him snicker through the helmet.
"Thought so. Eh, your doing better then Near did. It took both Matt and I to peel him off the back of my coat, you'd think someone had glued him there."
"Was that the day that Near holed himself up in his room and started obsessively researching motorcycle accident statistics?"
"Yeah. It was his own fault, I never pushed him to ride it. I only offered."
Faith shook her head slightly with a grin. Although there was no longer quite the level of animosity between the two of them that there had been when they first arrived they still had a highly entertaining love-hate relationship.
"We're here." Mello suddenly announced, the bike slowing.
Faith looked up to see he had pulled into the parking lot, watching the cars they passed as he pulled through to the underground parking. He made his way down a couple of isles before slowing and pulling into a empty spot right next to Matt and Light who were leaning up against Matt's car.
"Matt wasn't kidding, you really did ride with Mello on a motorcycle!" Light laughed, watching as Mello braced his feet and stopped the bike.
"Go ahead and climb off." Mello said as the rumblings of his bike ceased.
Faith braced her hands on his shoulders and clumsily swung off, only to catch her leg and squeak as she found herself falling. Before she could hit the ground two strong hands grabbed her, catching her before she could make contact with the dirty cement.
"Nice dismount."
Faith tilted her head back and shot a mild glare up at the upside-down face of Matt who grinned at her.
She simply sniffed at him and he cheerfully pushed her upright, helping steady her as she stared down at her legs.
"My legs feel strange. Almost like I'm still moving." She observed.
"Yeah, some people get that when they ride on motorcycles." Mello commented as he put the kickstand down and pulled his helmet off before coming over and undoing hers, gently tugging it off her head and going over to his bike to open a compartment with his key and stick them inside.
"That's handy."
He nodded and Faith turned to Light who was grinning.
"Who would have guessed that you'd actually challenge that fear."
Faith turned slightly pink.
"That was when I was nine!"
"And ten, and eleven, and twelve, and thirteen, and..."
Faith swatted at him and her brother jumped out of the way with a massive grin.
"...and fourteen and-"
"Stop that! I get the point!" Faith squawked.
"What fear?" Matt asked, interrupting them.
"Nothin-"
"Our family went to a racetrack when we were nine and a couple of the cars spun out during the race, colliding and turning into a smushed pile of metal that was soon added to by a third car. Once the drivers got out one of the cars even exploded. Faith was horrified and when she found out it was because of the speeds they were going she developed this weird fear of fast moving vehicles. Ask her to go on a roller coaster? Not happening. She swore that she would never go on any dangerous vehicle that could go that fast, especially racecars or motorcycles."
All eyes turned to Faith who blushed and glared at light.
"It was a stupid phobia and I got over it long ago."
"Not that long ago, you refused to watch the races with Matt and I not even three months ago."
"That was because of the cars? I thought Faith said it was because of the swearing." Matt commented.
"The swearing? Please, she lives with Mello doesn't she?" Light scoffed.
"OY! What's that supposed to mean?!" Mello snarled, making Faith roll her eyes despite her embarrassment.
"It means that you could swear the ears off a sailor." She said dryly before turning to Light and poking his stomach, making him hiss and scuttle back as he wrapped a arm protectively around his torso.
"Hey! Don't do that. I was working out yesterday and my muscles are sore!"
"I know, that's why I did it."
Light opened his mouth to snark at her but Mello spoke before he could.
"So now that you've ridden on the motorcycle, what do you think?"
Faith pondered that for a moment.
"I liked it when we were going on the side roads, but I really didn't like the main roads with the cars whipping by us. I'd happily go with you if you were exploring country roads on that thing though."
Mello nodded with a slight smile.
"Well if I ever decide to do that I'll be sure to take you with me."
Faith grinned and Matt groaned before flinging a arm around Mello and another around Faith as he leaned between them.
"Hey! Are we going to go shopping or are we going to stand around talking?!"
Everyone laughed at the impatient gamer and Light reached forward to ruffle Matt's hair, making the auburn haired teen pull his head back with a indiginant sound.
"Lets go shopping."
So what did you think? Reviews are welcome! Flames shall be laughed at, posted for others to laugh at, and ignored as I continue the story.
