Chapter 2 - Strawberry Cheesecake

*Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or its characters.*

Time. Time is what I hate the most. It's so unforgiving. Proceeding only forward, never stopping. No matter how hard I tried, time wasn't slowing or picking up it's pace. It's the most precious thing in the world, yet many people take it for granted, including me.

WARNING: This chapter contains mature themes and mentions of suicide and diseases. Please take care while reading.

December 5th

Somewhere among the thick shadows of a darkened room, lit only by the faint glow of a computer screen, sits the world's greatest detective. Carefully, he watches the man, no, the criminal whom he chose to have appear on television named 'Lind L. Tailor' , otherwise known as L. (Or at least this was the façade he had wanted to display to the world, to Kira.) Prior to having him appear on television, he made a simple agreement. If you survive, you will be pardoned from execution. L made the preparations days in advance. He had to make sure the criminal he chose would be believable, he needed Kira to believe that this man was in fact, the worlds greatest detective. L peers through his messy, jet black bangs, waiting. Watching intently as his stand in faces this Kira, directly challenging him. A few moments later, as he watches this man die on live television, he feels his own heart almost just out of his chest. The detective is thankful that for his whole career, he worked in the shadows; Keeping his identity hidden from the public.

He holds down a button on the keyboard. "Watari, please prepare a plane for Japan."

"Understood, sir." An older man replies through the speakers of the computer. "When would you like to have it ready?"

"Tonight."

"Very good, sir."

Tokyo, Japan

The redhead watches in shock as a man named 'Lind L. Tailor' dies of a heart attack on live television. When she first started watching the broadcast, she thought this detective 'L' might actually be a match for the new "mass murderer", Kira. She had heard a few rumors about the detective throughout her time in America, particularly a case he was rumored to be working on in Los Angeles. She found it hard to believe that the mysterious detective would so brashly put himself in the line of fire. Just as she was about to turn off the TV, a bright, white background with a gothic letter 'L' in the center flashes as it appears on the screen. A computerized voice begins to speak.

"I didn't want to believe it, but after seeing it with my own eyes... Kira, you actually do exist. I don't know how you do it but... Kira what you are doing is evil."

I knew it. The redhead laughs. The daring, bold, computerized voice challenges Kira to kill him, egging him on, almost begging him to do it. Wrapped up in the heat of the moment, the redhead felt a burning passion overcome her, for a moment she starts egging Kira on to kill this L person as well.

"I knew it. You can't do anything to me. It would seem you need a persons name and face in order to kill them."

The redhead stares at the bright screen, focusing her attention on the gothic letter 'L', watching intently as Kira and L have a battle through a pixelized screen. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Kira... in Japan, or so that's what the detective had concluded. He even managed to narrow down his location to one single region. This strange detective was smart, smarter then the redhead thought she ever could be.

Somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean

The detective and his butler sit next to each other on a plane, one of the few times L sits properly but only because he has to. They're heading for Japan, a country they aren't unfamiliar with. He's been in this country only a few times before now, working on cases that the Japanese police force couldn't solve on their own. The raven haired man gazes out the window he resides near and sees nothing but a massive ocean, sparkling waves crashing into each other, illuminated by glow of the moon. Though he's not too fond of the extremely deep and unknown water, he's seen it many times on his travels. Usually, he can solve most cases from the comfort of his own country, without having to travel outside of it. He had a feeling that this investigation might be different. In order to catch this 'Kira' he decided he had to bring himself directly into this criminals territory. For some reason he can't help but feel he might ever experience the anticipation of flying on a plane again, a thousand miles about the planet he called home. He brushes off the thought. Yes, catching Kira may be a death sentence but if he is as good of a detective as the whole world thinks he is, he has a terrific shot at coming out unscathed after Kira is caught and sentenced to death.

Watari interrupts the detective from his thoughts, "Are you ready? We only have a few more hours until we arrive."

L turns his head from the window, focusing his attention on the older man next to him. "As ready as I've ever been."

"That was quite a stunt you pulled." Watari expresses his concern to the detective about the television broadcast that aired only in the Kanto region of Japan a few days earlier. "I would say I'm surprised you found out where Kira is hiding, but I know you have a much greater perception of things than any other person in this world. It's what makes you not only the first best detective, but the second and third too." Watari chuckles.

"Yes." L takes a sip from his very sugary coffee and drops another sugar cube into it. "This investigation will be the toughest case I will ever work on." He sighs. He hopes this Kira figure proves to be a worthy opponent. It's true that the detective only picks up cases he finds interesting, or challenging. He was an addict; He always sought out the rush he got from solving extremely difficult crimes, a rush that not even sugar could provide him with. He takes another sip from his very sweet coffee.

"What a grand burden to have." Watari sighs. He tries his best to be there for L, knowing it can't be easy for him having most of the world rely on him to bring the most dastardly criminals to justice. He knows the detective is stubborn, almost always choosing to solve cases on his own, so he was relieved when L told him that he was going to work together with the FBI and the NPA, whatever help they could provide the child prodigy.

A flight attendant with a red, blouse tucked in to a short, ruffled skirt walks through the isle of seats. "Excuse me, can I please have some sort of dessert?" L calls her over. After being on a plane for a few hours, fueled by only his coffee and investigative theories, he needed a pick me up.

"Sure, how about a strawberry cheesecake?" She offers.

"That would be perfect."

The next morning

A small redheaded child, no older than the age of three, tip toes around a house, making sure to be as quiet as possible to be sure she doesn't wake her parents up. She sticks to the shadows, pretending she's a secret agent on a mission to retrieve a top secret item. She wanders downstairs and rummages through a cabinet in the kitchen. Unsatisfied with what she finds, she stands up and looks at the cabinets above the counters. She is sure she will find what she's looking for up there. With great determination, she grabs onto the handle attached to a false drawer and pulls herself up. On her way up, her foot gets stuck on the handle of the oven and the door swings open, flinging her backwards. In an attempt to save herself she tries grabbing one of the knobs. The redheaded child doesn't have a strong enough grip and crashes onto the floor anyways. A loud thud sounds followed by a scream of pain. As she lay there crying, she hears loud footsteps hastily running down the stairs. She is swooped up by warm comforting arms.

"What happened honey? Are you okay?" Her father asks. She rubs her face into his shoulder, wiping the tears and snots on his shirt. She points to the cabinet above the counter.

"Just like your dad." He chuckles. He opens the cabinet, revealing a piece of strawberry cheesecake behind the door. "You were looking for this?" He asks.

The girl nods her head yes, wiping the rest of the tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Why don't we save it for tomorrow?" He suggests. His daughter pouts and her eyes fill with water. "We can have it for breakfast!" He exclaims.

Satisfied, the redhead claps her hands. "Cake for breakfast! Cake for breakfast!" She exclaims.

The child's father flashes a warm smile. "Shh. You'll wake your mother. Let's go back to bed, okay sweetie?" She smiles back at him and nods her head.

Her father brings her back up the stairs and softly places her back in her bed. He pulls her blankets over her and tucks her in before giving her a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, honey."

Alex tosses around in her bed. Half asleep, she whispers, "No... The stove daddy."

Sometime later the redheaded child is abruptly woken up by terrifying screams coming from her parents bedroom down the hall. "Help us! Help us! Alexandra!" She rushes to her bedroom door and swings it open, she lets out a painful cry as she burns herself on the doorknob. Bright, hot light coming from the stairs catches her attention. She hears the crackling sound of fire as the railing slips off and falls to the floor with a big thud. She shoots her eyes toward her parents room. "Mom! Dad! Where are you?!" She screams, tears streaming down her face. Her fear intensifies, causing her to hyperventilate and she inhales thick black smoke, sending her into a coughing fit. She falls to the floor, the last thing she hears before she passes out is the sound of her parents calling her name.

The redhead wakes up in a scream. She flings herself upward and sits in her bed, sweat pouring down the sides of her face. She wipes the sweat away with the sleeve of her shirt as she takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to shake off the bad dream. While hesitantly dragging herself out of bed, the redhead rubs the crust from the corners off her eyes. Feeling better, she glances over at her alarm clock, surprisingly she was up early enough to stop at her favorite bakery before she had to be in school. More motivated then she originally was, she hops out of bed and runs around her apartment, brushing her teeth, throwing her curly red hair up in a messy bun. She puts on her school uniform before throwing her bag over her shoulder and hastily makes her way toward the bakery, leaving the comfort of her small apartment behind.

The sweets shop is a quaint little place right next to the old book store she visited every so often. In her opinion this bakery makes the best strawberry cheesecake in all of Tokyo. The bakery has purple pastel painted concrete walls on the exterior. Underneath the two windows in the front, lay orange and yellow chrysanthemums and just off to the side there is a small cherry blossom tree with a grey stone bench underneath. Alex often enjoys quiet afternoons underneath this tree, usually when she gets something new from the bookstore. As cliche as she knows it is, flowers were one of her favorite things the world had to offer. So beautiful yet so delicate. There's two levels to the store and an attic on top. The owner and her grandson, Haru, live right above the bakery on the second floor.

The curly haired girl met Haru when she first started school in Japan, shortly after she was adopted by a middle-aged resident of the country and the two quickly became friends. She learned that the tall, scrawny boy also lost his parents at a young age. His mother died during childbirth and two short years later his father committed suicide over the grief. The only difference was, Haru had a grandmother to take him in and the redhead had no other family step in to raise her before she was finally adopted and taken out of the orphanage she lived in back in America.

A few years after she was adopted, the Japanese woman was hospitalized for heart failure. Haru's grandmother took Alex in while her adoptive mother was laying around in the hospital, waiting for a heart transplant. Sadly, she passed away before she could get the surgery and Alex was left without parents, again.

Between school and helping Haru's grandmother around the bakery, the redhead would spend most of her free time in the bookstore next door. Combing through the shelves upon shelves of books, reading as many of them as she could in one single sitting. It was there she met Mr. Taniguchi, her landlord, who also owned the bookstore. When she wasn't delving into the fantasy worlds written in books, she would talk with the eldery man about her life and he would share details of his. She learned that he had lost his wife to a bad case of pneumonia shortly before the redhead moved to Japan.

A few years later, when she was old enough, Mr. Taniguchi offered for the redhead to stay in one of the apartments in his building. He told her to just focus on school and she wouldn't have to pay him anything for it. She figured moving out of the bakery would ease the stress on Haru's grandmother so she decided to do it.

The redhead walks into the bakery, taking in all of the sweet smells of strawberry and blueberry pastries. She looks around for Haru, the grandson of the woman who makes the most delicious strawberry cheesecakes.

Haru takes a deep breath as he appears from behind a tall fridge filled with fresh pastries. "Oh, I'm sorry Alex, but were going to be all out of strawberry cheesecake for... A while." He says with a frightful look in his eyes.

"What? You're kidding me! How long is-" She is cut off by the sound of a bell chiming as a formally dressed old man and a guy with thick, messy black hair that casts a shadow over his eyes step inside the bakery.

"Good-morning." The nicely dressed old man tips his hat toward the redhead before approaching the front counter. "Do you have the order ready, sir?" He asks.

As Haru notices the redhead glaring at him with evil green eyes from across the room, he hesitantly answers. "Uh… y-yes! Thirteen strawberry cheesecakes coming right up!" The redheads face turns red with anger and he wasn't sure if it was directed toward him, or the guy who just admitted to ordering literally thirteen strawberry cheesecakes.

"Thirteen?" She boldy questions the old man, wondering why in the world someone his age would need all of that sugar.

As if he had read her mind, the man with hair that resembles a raven says, "Actually, they are all for me." The girl watches as Haru bags exactly thirteen precious strawberry cheesecakes. Her mouth waters at just the sight of them.

Furious, and wanting to take her anger and disappointment out on someone (she thought sparing Haru from her wrath would be the right thing to do) she grits her teeth at the man who looks like he hasn't slept in days. "You really have to buy all of those cheesecakes? Don't ya know there's other customers that shop here?

Watari senses the tension and strong murderous vibes coming from the redhead. In an attempt to quickly fix the situation he decides to apologize to the girl. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Miss." Really, she didn't care for an apology and if she was being honest, Haru should have been the one apologizing. He knows how much she loves his grandmother strawberry cheesecakes, and selling them all right in front of her was the worst possible thing she could have never imagined him doing.

"I believe an apology is unnecessary." The detective stares blanky at the redhead through his "In fact, I believe I am the only customer who actually needs these cheesecakes right now."

Now the redhead was offended. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, huh? I'm pretty sure if you ate all of those yourself, you'd end up having a heart attack or something."

"Your statement is not only false, but absurd. I consume more sweets than you can even imagine on a daily basis, and I'm perfectly healthy. I need them to properly function." He says matter of factly. "And having a heart attack from eating cheesecake is highly unlikely." Especially with all the Kira killings going on. The detective thought it more likely he be found by Kira and mysteriously have a heart attack then die over eating a cheesecake. He takes a slice of the cheesecake from its container and lifts it in the air with his thumb an forefinger, slowly waving it around to tease the redhead. "Want some?"

The redhead scoffs at his rude gesture. "Not after you had your grimy little hands all over it."

"Suit yourself." He takes a bite of the cheesecake before stuffing it back in the container. As he reaches his arm out to hand it to Watari, the angry redhead snatches his arm, nearly knocking the container of cheesecake out of his hand.

He narrows his eyes at the hand grasping his forearm. "It would be in your best interest if you let my arm go. I can be very unforgiving."

Upon further inspection of the man, the redhead notices prominent dark circles underneath his eyes that suggest the man rarely ever got sleep, probably because of how much sugar he eats. She almost shudders as she looks him directly in his dark, almost black eyes. The blank expression on his face and cold stare left her feeling unnerved. This man was scary. His nearly emaciated figure and bad posture gave her the creeps. He's wearing a long sleeve, white, baggy T-shirt along with baggy blue jeans. His feet are bare, shoeless and sockless. He was dressed the complete opposite of the older man he came into the bakery with. He blinks twice, waiting for her to say something.

The redhead gathers her courage, trying to find the right words to say. "Um... Can I have that cheesecake?" She lets go of the mans arm.

Watari strides over toward his detective and the angry redhead. Not wanting either of them to start attacking each other, or worse, he takes the container of cheesecake out of L's hand and the raven haired man watches in disbelief as he hands it to the redhead. "There, that's settled." He focuses his attention on the detective, "Sir, I believe now would be a good time to be on our way." He nudges the detective to have him leave the bakery with him.

The redhead watches in amusement as the weird man stick both hands in his jean pockets and follows behind the elderly man, trudging slowly along toward the exit. The detective stops at the door and spins around. He looks directly at the redhead with that same cold, blank expression. "A word of advice, you should preorder next time." He scratches the back of his head. "You know what they say, 'The early bird catches the worm.' "

"But I guess in this case… the second mouse doesn't get the cheese huh?" Haru shyly chimes in.

"It would seem that this time, the second mouse did get the cheese. However, I can promise you - It won't happen again." He turns back around and walks through the entrance before getting into shiny black limo.

"At least I got this whole cheesecake for free." The redhead happily states. She frowns as she looks down at the mangled, nearly half eaten piece the raven haired man took a bite out of. "But... I think I should throw this piece out."

After letting out a sigh of relief, Haru adjusts his glasses, placing them firmly on the bridge of his nose. He looks up at the gold, vintage clock hanging above an old picture of his grandfather. "Crap!" He yells. "We're gonna be late." He slaps the palm of his hand on his forehead. Amongst all of the arguing, he and the redhead had completely forgotten about school.

Soft footsteps echo from the room behind the front counter. The door swings open and an elderly lady hobbles out, using her cane for support. "Haru, why haven't you left yet? School starts in ten minutes!"

Haru quickly nips behind the register, grabbing his jacket off the hook and throwing it on as he scrambles around trying to find his bookbag. "I know, Grandma. I lost track of time taking care of that big cheesecake order we got yesterday." He spots his bookbag, picks it up and slips one strap over his shoulder.

His grandmother gasps. "You mean that nice man with the fancy suit? Why didn't you tell me he was here? I would have come out and taken care of him myself!"

"Yeah..." The redhead rubs the back of her neck. "Me and his panda pet kind of had it out... That's why it took so long. He ordered 13 of those strawberry cheesecakes! You know how much I love them Ms. Sato..." She trails off, feeling guilty that her passion for cheesecake was responsible for making Haru late to class.

"Oh dear..." Ms. Sato chuckles and shakes her head. "Little Red, I didn't forget about you! I made sure to put one aside just for you. How could I forget my favorite customer?" She bends over, one hand leaning on her cane for support as the other hand reaches below the counter into the cooler. She pulls out an extremely delicious looking strawberry cheesecake with perfectly placed, fresh strawberries on top and extra whipped cream, just how the redhead liked it.

"Oh, maaan! Haru didn't mention-"

"I didn't even know!" He wondering if that entire debacle that just occurred could have been prevented if his friend knew she had her very own cheesecake, specially prepared for her. After thinking about it for a moment, he came to the conclusion that she would have put up a fuss either way.

"Alright you two. That's enough dilly dallying. Be on your way to school now, quickly! Before it starts raining!" A loud cracking noise is heard from the sky outside, followed by a flash of bright light. A quick, threatening sound of thunder echos through the bakery.

"Crap. It's already starting!" Haru dashes toward the redhead, grabbing hold of her and dragging her out of the bakery with him. "See you later, Grandma!"

The redhead hastily reaches into her school bag and pulls out a small umbrella. She smiles as she sees the letters "L.Y." neatly carved into the wooden handle. She pops it open, covering her and the tall boy next to her as best as she could. Another sound of crackling thunder beckons from the sky above and simultaneously, the rain begins pouring heavily from the clouds above, quickly filling potholes in the roads and cracks in the sidewalk. Haru and the redhead quicken their pace as they make their way to school, making sure to stay underneath the umbrella as best they can.

After a few hours, the thunderstorm subsides and the rain stops. The storm leaves remnants of rain drops on the discolored grass outside, glistening as the sun shines brightly through the parting clouds. The redheads black, military style boots had failed to keep her feet dry as she stomped through puddles of rain the entire way to school. Her socks are still half wet from this morning and she was eager to get home and take them off. The sound of the school bell signals the end of the day and the redhead heads to her locker. She twists the knob, inputting the combinations and opens it up, grabbing the umbrella Light gave her the other day. She decides to see if he's at his locker to return it.

"Hey, Light." She calls out as she approaches the brunette. She notices him sifting around in his locker. Curiosity strikes her so she peeks around the wall to see what he's doing. She notices that his locker is extremely organized, he has a few, manila folders neatly placed next to some books, all in alphabetical order. "Whatcha looking for?" She asks.

Light grabs a piece of paper from one of the folders. "Are you always this nosy?" He flips the paper around to show her what's on it.

"You're taking the mock exams for To-Oh, huh?" She wasn't surprised, Light was intelligent so it only made sense that he would be applying to one of the best schools in the area.

"Of course I am. It's kind of expected of me, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so." The redhead rolls her eyes. "Anyway, I just wanted to give you this umbrella back." She pulls the umbrella from her bag, still damp from using it earlier.

"Oh, I almost forgot about it. Why don't you keep it? I have another one anyway." He offers.

She lifts it in the air and searches the wooden handle for the initials she noticed were carved in it. "You have your initials on it. See?" She points to the "L.Y." carved neatly near the bottom of the handle.

"Let me see it." He requests. The redhead shrugs and hands the umbrella to him as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pen. Above his own initials, he uses the point of the pen to carefully carve the redheads first name. He hands it back to her. "There, now it has your name on it too."

The redhead thought it was a nice gesture and she happily stuffed the umbrella back in he school bag. "Thanks, Yagami."

"No problem, anytime" He laughs. "You know what, I was just about to leave and go study for the mock exams why don't you come with me? I could use the company and surely you would learn something too."

The redhead waves her hands in an 'X' motion. "No way, I just spent half the day sitting in a school. I would much rather go home and forget this place exists."

"Well, how about you take the mock exams for To-Oh? We can study together and you might actually have a shot at getting in."

"Thanks for being so worried about my education, but I think I'll pass." Although her last year at the academy was coming to an end, she had no plans of going to a University. She didn't even know what she would want to study for. Philosophy? Criminal Justice? Psychology? Those were the only things that actually interested her and she wasn't even sure if she was smart enough to chase a career in those fields anyway.

"What if we make a bet?" Light slyly suggests.

The redheads eyes brighten. She isn't much of a gambler but how could she pass off the opportunity to win a bet against Light Yagami? "What kind of bet?"

"How about, we both take the mock exams for To-Oh, and whoever scores higher, wins. I can help you study for them to at least give you a chance at winning." Light figured he should add that last part, he didn't think she would actually score higher then him but he thought giving her a decent chance would only be fair considering he's been studying for the To-Oh entrance exams for the past year.

"What do I get if I win?" The redhead questions.

Light taps his index finger on his chin as he thinks for a moment. Not being able to come up with anything he asks, "What would you want?"

The redhead grins wildly, almost creeping the brunette out. "Strawberry cheesecake! Whenever I want... for a whole month." She was going to say a week, but she figured she should get as much out of the bet as she can if she wins and a whole month of free strawberry cheesecake would be like heaven.

"That's... quite a ridiculous request but okay, I guess. And if I win..." He looks directly in her sparkly green eyes and smiles. "You have to go on a date with me."

"Ha! You're on, Yagami!" She exclaims. If she lost, she was sure she could survive one lousy date with him. They shook hands. "Let the games begin."

End of Chapter 2