Disclaimer: I don't own death note.
Chapter 37
Near Miss
By new year's eve, Yumi had had enough with being passive, but what made it worse was the fact that twelve FBI agents had been killed by Kira on that day Yumi had spent alone in Raito's house. Four days ago, Kira had killed innocent people.
Raito himself didn't pay much attention to her and only spoke to her when there was something about the death note that he wanted to see if she knew, if she didn't know then she would ask Ryuk to tell her later, but the majority of the information was nothing new.
Though she was still bored, Yumi couldn't act until she found out how to open the desk trap and get the death note out, and Raito had been annoyingly careful about not letting her know how to open it.
What made things worse, was the fact that the desk drawer wasn't the only security Raito had, he would also put a slip of paper in the door when he left, just as much to keep Yumi in as to keep others out, though it was just a front.
The real security was the door handle, which he spent a strangely long time manipulating whenever he left his room. There was also a piece of pencil lead that sat on the hinge of the door and broke if anyone tried to open the door without taking it out first. Those tricks made it difficult for Yumi to walk in and out of the bedroom door when he left.
So she resorted to climbing out the window when she needed to leave, then climbing back in when she returned.
This was just to avoid questions from Raito about where she had gone.
The day after the FBI had been killed the news of their death and their over all presence in Japan reached the NPA, the whole task force now knew that L had been investigating them and their families.
And as if that weren't enough, the day after that a new note was sent to L, the note that finished the message.
L do you know gods of death love apples?
It was true that shinigami Ryuk loved apples, but that didn't help L's investigation at all. Not that Yumi wanted L to get anywhere near Kira so in the end, the pointless notes were a good thing for her.
Then it happened, it was night so Yumi was laying on Raito's bed while he worked on homework, it was really boring.
There was a break in the silence as Raito's mother called him down stairs, Yumi stayed where she was because she wasn't supposed to be in the house without permission anyway.
Raito left the room and walked down the stairs closing the door after him which bothered Yumi because it meant she couldn't eavesdrop on the meeting, a few minutes later Raito came back with a triumphant grin on his face, or more, a victorious sneer.
"What was it?" Yumi asked, she wanted to be informed.
"The task force it losing members after the deaths of the FBI in Japan, L's running out of people." he answered and Yumi froze.
L was losing support, this should have made Yumi feel better, it should have relieved some of her stress. But it didn't, logically, Yumi should be happy, after all with less people on the task force, L wouldn't be able to track down Kira as quickly as before, but it also meant he would be alone before long.
Yumi couldn't help but feel guilty, after all if she had stayed with him two years ago then he would always have at least one person with him, even if she was just a tool, to him, to use on his cases.
It was this guilt that led her to take a walk on new year's day. On January first 2004.
She didn't plan to go far, but her guilt wouldn't let her turn back just yet, she couldn't bring herself to go back for over three hours before she reached the center of town and decided it was time to turn around.
But on her way back to Raito's house, she was detoured by a shiny black car. At first she didn't make the connection. No she refused to make the connection.
But as the car pulled over to the curb and moved slowly to match her walking pace, there was no more denying it.
The window rolled down and the driver looked her over thoroughly before speaking.
"Yumi, do you need a ride?" Watari asked her from the driver's seat.
"Where to?" Yumi asked though she could guess the answer already.
"Would you consider helping with the Kira investigation? I'm sure you've heard of it." Watari suggested.
Yumi felt a stab of pain at the thought of seeing L again, and if she helped it would likely be through the police side of the computer anyway, but she did want to help. She wanted to help him.
"Alright, I'll help." Yumi tried to smile as she climbed into the back seat of the car.
It wasn't a far drive to the investigation headquarters, but it also wasn't a warehouse, or the police station, or anywhere else that Yumi would have expected to end up at.
"Um, is this the right place, Watari?" Yumi asked as the car stopped in front of the Imperial Hotel.
Watari chuckled softly as they entered through the front door of the hotel and walked into the elevator. They stood alone in the elevator as it rose to one of the higher floors.
"So, do you think he'll even remember me? I would really hate it if he called security or something." Yumi joked, but she was worried that it might really happen, and even if he did remember her, would he be angry? She had run away from him and left him more or less alone for two years.
The elevator opened on a floor that Yumi didn't bother to number, the two of them got out of the elevator and it closed– rather ominously– behind them.
The hall was silent, they began to walk down the halls passed the doors and tables and windows and other items that dotted the hallways, then they reached the room and Watari pulled a key out of his pocket.
He unlocked the door and walked inside, leaving Yumi in the hall contemplating if entering was really the best idea. Sensing that Yumi needed some time to consider the situation, Watari offered her the key, but she refused.
It was best to go in, she had decided, it was best to face him sooner then later.
Watari moved into the room, clearing the way for Yumi to follow him, and she did.
The room was a suite, so naturally it was larger then she had expected, but that in itself was to be expected. There was lost of furniture, and several potted plants that helped Yumi focus on what she now had to do.
There was a small table right inside the door, and at least five cell phones sat turned off on top of it, Yumi guessed what had caused this and took her own cell phone out of her bag, placing it on the table.
No one even knew her number, so the only thing she kept the phone for was when she needed to make emergency calls like to the police or fire brigade.
She left her bag on the table too, thinking that it was best not to have access to a fire arm at the moment, once she had unloaded all her things onto the table she attempted to back away from it, straiten up, and turn the corner all at once.
It didn't work, and her ankle caught on one of the table legs causing the whole table to fall over, throwing cell phones across the floor and making a lot of noise. Yumi had fallen over when she tried to stop the table from capsizing, so when Watari, L and five other men, one of which she recognized as Soichiro Yagami, came around the corner, Yumi was on the floor attempting to pick up all the cell phones and celebrating the fact that her gun hadn't fired when it hit the ground.
She tried to turn her back to the others, and just focus on the cell phones but that task didn't take up much time, she even straitened out the table and placed the phones back onto it before turning to finally face the men.
In the front of the group was a large man who looked almost like a brick wall in a suit, to his left was a shorter man with almost fluffy hair, there was an even shorter man with a strangely mouse-like face, a younger looking man who couldn't have been more then twenty five...
... then there was L, he hadn't changed much in the last two years. He wore baggy faded jeans and a loose white shirt, his black hair was unruly as ever and he wore no shoes or socks.
Yumi couldn't speak at first, the five other men in the room were eyeing her suspiciously and the youngest man even looked to L as if expecting instructions. L and Yumi just looked each other over carefully, they memorized every detail of each other neither moving for several silent minutes.
Then Yumi had to speak, if only to stop the staring of the five police officers.
"Th-this is different, no warehouse?" she asked L to change the subject.
"I can't meet the police in a warehouse." L pointed out flatly, Yumi almost flinched at his voice, it seemed different somehow or maybe it had just been a while.
"That's true." Yumi agreed, then turned her attention to the other men.
"I'm Yumi, nice to meet you." she said to the remainder of the task force, they seemed confused by her presence.
"I'm Matsuda." the young man said, Yumi could tell he was inexperienced simply because he had spoken first.
"Mogi." said the brick man.
"Aizawa." said the man with the fluffy hair.
"Ukita." said the short man.
Yumi wasn't sure what to do next so she smiled at the task force. She was careful to avoid L's gaze.
"Do you mind if I help with the case?" she asked, she hoped L would let her help him, now that she was here it would be far too painful to just leave again.
"Yes, if you want to help you can." L said, he didn't seem to care either way.
Yumi was happy, but she still wondered if this was the right thing to do.
"Ok, then what have you figured out so far, L?" she asked, as they moved back into the other room so they could all sit down.
"Oh, and while we're working on this case, you should call me Ryuzaki." L said, changing the subject completely.
"Ryu– wait isn't that the name that–" she stopped herself, L no doubt knew where he had gotten the name from, and now that Yumi allowed herself to remember her time with L, she realized that the name Ryuzaki was the name that Beyond Birthday had used to introduce himself to Misora.
But, L must have known that already. "Ok, Ryuzaki then." she agreed, the task force members still seemed confused about what a girl was doing in the hotel room, she wasn't even a police officer.
"Well, don't mind me, I'll pick up what you've got on the case as we go, please carry on with what you were doing." Yumi said, trying to smile politely, but she felt awkward sitting in that room.
"Very well," L said, turning back to business, "Watari?" he asked, the rest of his question was implied.
"Yes, I brought them as you requested." Watari answered.
"Then could you pass them out please?" he asked, though he probably didn't need to.
"Yes, Gentlemen, these are your new Ids." Watari said ad he opened a case that he had brought with him and passed a fake ID to all of the task force members.
"What? Fake Ids?" was one of the cries of protest that followed. But Yumi had already found another fact to worry over.
The fact that the task force were being given fake picture Ids was a sign that L had figured out that Kira couldn't kill with just a face, or he would have given the police Ids without a photograph instead of just having a fake name.
How far had he gotten with the investigation? Yumi now realized that L had only improved over the last two years. So compared to that, was Yumi just standing still while others passed her by?
Was this whole case just another thing that L was better at then her? Was she going to be left behind again?
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author's note: I hadn't considered the fact that Yumi might have an inferiority complex before, but after constantly being second to L, or actually to put it in her words, "the lesser half" of L, would make her feel inferior after a while, though that never stopped her from trying to help him in any way she could. Thanks for reading and reviewing! See you tomorrow!