Hello amazing people of Fanfiction! How are all of you this fine evening or morning (whenever you decide to read this) ? You'll have to excuse my proper vocabulary, I'm attempting to be British.
Isabella POV
Taylor basically drowned out my oxygen in a strong and heavy mist of hairspray. I closed my eyes quickly to shut out all the light I could possibly see. I could feel the spray molding my hair in place to keep it from moving out of place during my enchanting night.
I wanted to get my mind off of L. Yeah, it was pretty hard. Taking my mind off of what's happened during these months will always be hard to do. But it was something I was forced to do. I couldn't carry all of this heavy baggage he produced in the first place on me. It was too mind bearing and confusing for me to worry about at the time. If he made it to the ball, he made it. If he didn't, he could go find some other girl to play Candyland with.
Taylor untied the pink apron from my lower neck and shoved it in her black hair stylist bag. She unplugged her curling iron and let it cool on the bathroom counter top. Taylor wasn't like many hair stylists. She didn't make any conversations with me, she was just concentrating on my hair. All she did was look intently at the curls that rolled onto my shoulders. I did the same. I felt kind of awkward though, since I was in need of something to distract me from my mind's thoughts.
She walked out of the bathroom with her bag, most likely to put her supplies some where else. She called out to me from the kitchen to bring the curling iron to her from the bathroom that she left there. I got out of my seat and carefully walked slowly to her in the next room. I didn't want to move that much so that my hair would fall out of place.
My long black hair was pinned back with a stylish blue clip, in a half up/half down style. It was extremely wavy, to my liking, and my side bangs swooped over the top part of my blue eyes. I smiled as I looked in the mirror in the hallway to the kitchen.
I handed the iron to her, which was still sort of hot. Now, I'm no hair stylist, but I think it needed more time to cool down. She took it from me by the handle and looked at my hair, "Now darling, don't move that much because then the volume will become all loosy-goosy. And we don't need that, right?" I nodded, "Right."
Wammy came down from the stairs and I saw him as he walked down the aisle to the kitchen. His rosy cheeks were bright pink. He smiled at me, "You look beautiful." I blushed, "Thanks, Sir. I'm really excited for the ball tonight." He looked concerned, "Are you sure you're alright?" I nodded uneasily, "Yeah...I'm just trying to take my mind off the incident from yesterday afternoon." He nodded too. He already assumed what I was talking about. It's like he could read my mind.
He moved his glance from me to Taylor and smiled. He greeted his long time friend with a polite hand-shake. She started explaining my complicated hair-do to him, and I could tell that he pretended to care about it. I'm sure Wammy had many other things to think about right now.
The ball was going to be in the grand ballroom, a very spacious room we only used for special occasions. The last party that had been located there was one of the younger girl's 14th birthday half a year ago. The room was beautiful and had gold carvings in the wall along with many european murals. And with the decorating styles of Mabel, I'm sure she's going to make it even better looking.
Wammy brought Taylor to a different part of the house to sit down and have tea. I figured that she was done with my hair if she was going off. I felt bad though, I did not even get to thank her or tell her how much I liked it. I sat down on one of the chairs from the informal kitchen island. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pressed a random button to take the screen saver off. I had a new message.
I.,
I would like it very much if you came into my bedroom for a few minutes. We have many things to discuss.
-N.
I looked weirdly at the screen. N? Near never had anything to talk to me about that needed a formal invitation. Since Wammy and Taylor were somewhere in the mansion, I decided it would be okay to leave my post. I walked up the stairs slowly, trying not to bend my head or turn it in any direction. I smoothly glided my hand upon the railing while escalating the steps. I still hadn't thoroughly gone through my entrance for tonight.
I walked down the hall, passing my room and Matt's, to Near's room. There was a silver 'N' painted on his dark brown wooden door. I knocked first. "Come in." He said monotonously. I opened the door. I hadn't been in Near's room in a while, so I examined everything in it before meeting his eyes. He had toys scattered on the floor and opened books laid upon his bed. He had dice scattered on the floor as well, and one in his hand. I still didn't understand why he played with toys at the age of fifteen. Near himself was seated on the hardwood floor, hugging one of his legs and letting the other one remain flat.
"Hello, I. Happy birthday." He greeted. I looked at his grey bare walls. His room resembled L's exactly. "Thanks Near! You wanted to talk to me?" I asked. I didn't quite understand why some people in the house called me I. The consonant 'I' is too confusing to be called because it can also take the possessive meaning and be completely misused. I prefer it when people called me Isabella, or Bella.
"Yes, I did. Thank you for arriving on time." He said, not meeting my eyes at first. Gosh, he was just like L. "So, what do you want to talk to me about? I asked again. He picked up something from behind him and held it out to me. It was a notebook. It was black and in white letters, some one had etched 'Death Note' on it. I heard L speaking to B about this yesterday, so I sort of knew what it contained. But I had no clue why Near had it. He handed it to me.
"That notebook was found in the trousers of B when he had gone to the police station for interrogation yesterday night." He said informatively. I nodded, "Okay." Near opened it and looked at an area on the wall besides me. I noticed that he wasn't making eye contact with me. "Near...what are you looking at?"
He refused to answer me and handed me the book. I turned around to the area on the wall he couldn't take his eyes off of and I knew what he must have been staring at. This was a death god, or in Japan, called a shinigami. Death gods are the equivalent of the devil here in England. No one around here knows that they exist. I hadn't seen one before, but I wasn't shocked or scared. I've seen weirder things in my life. Like L smiling.
The shinigami refused to talk. It just stood there in the corner of the room, watching the notebook as if he was meant to guard it. I don't know how, but I knew the shinigami was masculine.
"Near, how did he get here?" I asked curiously, still watching the shinigami. His eyes were red, just as L had explained to B yesterday. I looked back at Near for a response and he nodded, "It seems to be that who ever touches the notebook can see this creature. It's been here for a long time now, you just happened to see it because you have it in your hands at the moment."
I thought of what Near said over again. Man, this kid was really smart. "Oh. Can he tell us any useful information about our case?" I asked. Near shook his head, "No, he refuses to tell major details. But I organized from the collected data left to me by L, that this is indeed B's shinigami."
I looked at the notebook at opened up it's cover, analyzing everything and feeding it into my mind. "L...left data for you?" I asked. "Yes. He asked me to continue this case for him in the time that he was gone."
Why didn't he ask me to do it? I'm second in line for the title of L, not Near...oh wait. We had gotten into that argument. I guess it is that easy to forget.
"Are there any other assumptions that you've made?" I questioned. "As of this point, no. Although I find the rules in the notebook interesting." He answered me, grabbing a set of dice from behind him. I turned to the next page in the book and read the rules. There were some basic things in there, and then there were some things that obviously needed lots of thinking through to even be put in here. "Why would B add such difficult rules to use this thing?" I inquired. "Most likely to cause another user to make a mistake while writing down someone's name. That would leave only himself to do the dirty work correctly." Near said, while he placed the six dice in an upwards stack. "Writing someone's name in a book isn't dirty work. Planning it out on the right date and time to follow a precise plan, though, is." I explained.
I sighed as my eyes lowered to a rule in the notebook. I read it out loud, "There are male and female gods of death, but it is neither permitted nor possible for them to have sexual relationships with humans. The gods of death also cannot have sex with each other." I swore I saw Near's lips turn upwards. "Why the bloody hell would B care to write that rule in the Death Note!?" I asked annoyed. When Near failed to answer me because of the strong need to giggle, I muttered, "Even the strangest of men are perverts."
**
It was around 4 PM and all of the house was beginning to get dressed for my festive ball. It was only me who hadn't begun to put my gown on yet, for there was no need to. The ball started promptly at 8, therefore I had much time to prepare. Bethany, one of the girls a few months younger then me, offered to do my make up. I actually liked Bethany a lot. She had auburn hair and golden eyes, and was slim and at a basic height. She was a very skilled make up artist and her daily make up looked absolutely amazing. I couldn't wait for her to get started on me.
She walked into my room while I was placing my dress over my body in the mirror, to see how it would look with my hair done. "Hey Bella, that looks freaking gorgeous! I can only imagine what it'll look like when you actually put it on!" I blushed and turned around to greet her, "Thanks Beth, you wanna get started?" I asked. She pulled out a huge and silver make up kit from behind her back and nodded happily. I could tell that she loved what she does.
She had me sit in a chair in front of my mirror after asking me if my face was completely free of make up. I didn't wear make up in the house, for I didn't have no one to impress. Besides one person.
She began by putting a thin layer of foundation upon my forehead and cheeks. She used one of those very soft triangle-like shaped applying sponges, which felt amazingly soft on my face. The tone she used blended perfectly with my skin and I was already beginning to look flawless. She pulled up a chair from my desk and placed it in front of mine and she sat on it to get closer to my eyes. Bethany actually kept up a conversation with me and concentrated on her job.
"So what's the deal with you and big-shot detective?" She asked playfully. I smiled sarcastically, "I have no idea on what you're talking about." She giggled, "C'mon, everyone in the house knows that you two like each other. Is anything going on?" I looked up to the ceiling as she applied concealer under my eyes to get rid of that horrible purple-like hue. She also applied it between the space of my eye and my nose. "Well...er...we haven't really been talking lately. Besides, he left for his side case." I answered. She sighed, "You can't let a case get you down." I closed my eyes as she applied the concealer to my upper eye lid. "How do you know that it's getting me down? Maybe I'm perfectly fine." I replied innocently, trying to hide everything. I opened my eyes to her looking at me sarcastically, "Something's wrong with you right now. And if this is going to ruin your last ball Bella, I swear you will hear it from me!" I silenced. I thought about what she said, and she was absolutely right. I didn't need to let this take the better side of me when I'm planned to have so much fun tonight. I'll dance with Mello if I have to.
She took out a small makeup brush and rubbed it in an aqua blue powder. Very neatly, she softly dabbed it onto my eyelids. She could tell I was thinking deeply about what she had just told me. "Bella, listen to me. Never make a guy ruin your night. You'll only regret later on. I know you're upset about your final dance because I know you were fond of having it with that special someone. But you're not going to feel better by acting like this. Trust me." She confided. I opened my eyes and smiled.
"Thanks...that actually means a lot to me. I've never really had someone say that to me before." I confessed. She grinned, "Well it's my pleasure." I closed my eyes again so she could completely the other eye, "Beth, did something similar happen to you? You seem to know a lot about what I'm going through." She frowned at first, but a small smile spread across her face, "Yeah. Something kinda like your situation happened to me. Long story though." I could tell that she already decided to put it behind her.
I should really take Bethany's advice. That's what I thought of at the time. But that one consonant kept coming back into my mind somehow. I kept denying that maybe it was meant to stay there.
In half an hour, she was done with me and she moved out of my way so I could look in the mirror. I looked absolutely amazing. A small and thin black line outlined my insanely blue eyes so precisely it was like my eyes was a work of art. The blue eye shadow swept from my upper lid to the corner of my eyes so nicely. She had placed small but stunning stick-on diamonds on the corner of my eyes forming such a pretty formal design.
I got up and hugged her so strongly that she was about to topple over. She had done an amazing job and I couldn't stop telling her how much I loved it.
"Bella? You have...woah." Mello said as he walked into the room. The eighteen-year-old's face lit up as he looked at me. "Chill marshmallow, it's only make up." I reassured him as me and Bethany watched his cheeks get red, "Yeah...well...er...someone's here for you." He said, attempting to regain his normal charm with a wink and a bright knowing smile.
My stomach turned upside down. I looked surprised at Bethany who shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know who Mello was talking about either. Was that wink supposed to be a sign that it was someone I wasn't expecting? Or someone I was expecting?
All I knew was that I could see a white sleeve from the opening of my door.
Thanks for reading this chapter, loves :)
I am terribly sorry for not updating as soon as I could. Christmas is just around the corner!
Remember, reviews = smiles for V!
