TOWRTA: Shorter chapter. I've decided to cut the length in order to get the chapters out faster and not feel so overwhelmed. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Four
Monday was spent in hospital with Quinn at my side the whole time. Light was at school and only came in the afternoon to give me the homework I had missed from that day and Saturday. Other than that, my day was blessedly Kira-free.
I tried to ignore Ryuk who would phase in and out of my room with alarming regularity, bringing me news of Light's exploits with the notebook and telling me stories from previous notebook holders. By the end of his tale on an Egyptian prince I never wanted to hear the term Death Note again.
On Tuesday I was released with clear warnings not to do anything strenuous. The bill was paid for in the Yagami name, Sachiko telling me, as she picked Quinn and I up in a taxi in the morning, that she felt guilty over the whole thing. For me, Light's new friend and recent immigrant, to have moved here and been attacked so close to her own home was inexcusable. Quinn and I found ourselves seated at the dining room table, breakfast served and tea steaming.
"Quinn-san," she said, pouring him another cup, "how old are you?"
"Fourteen." He was inhaling the tea as though it was the first drink he'd had in months. I was almost insulted. He never drank more than one cup of my brew.
"You are in Daikoku?"
"Yes."
"Your sister mentioned to me you enjoy music." I had said nothing of the sort to anyone in this family except Light but I let it slide. At least I was now seeing where Light got his propensity to bend the truth from.
A few minutes into Sachiko's attempt to draw Quinn out of his shell by referencing obscure composers she remembered from her childhood years playing piano, I excused myself. Sachiko offered to help but I waved her off, doggedly making my way up the stairs to Light's room by myself with copious use of the handrail. Once I was in the den of the world's most mysterious serial killer, I fell onto the bed and passed out.
"Minerva. Mi-neer-vaa-chaan~" I groaned and curled up tighter, clinging to the edges of deep sleep. A small hand pushed at my shoulder and I rolled over to stare at the face of Sayu, her brown hair down from its usual ponytail and tickling my nose.
"Sayu? What time is it?" She giggled and sat down.
"It's dinner time. Your brother is really cute."
I smiled and sat up, hugging myself to keep the cold at bay. "Don't tell him that. He hasn't let me call him cute since he was seven."
"Sayu!" Light called from down the hall. "Is she up yet?"
"Yeah, Light! Come on, Mum's cooked stir fry for your brother." She held out her hand and helped me out of the bed, frowning when she saw just how profound my limp was. "Does it still hurt?"
"A little. The doctor said it would be healed fully in a few weeks."
"Should you be walking?" I gave her a look. She giggled again. "You're not the type to stay in bed anyway, are you?"
"If I was in Canada right now Quinn would dragging me off my quad bike."
"You can drive a quad bike?" she asked excitedly as we entered the dining room. Soichiro was at the table, to my surprise. Sachiko had said he wasn't expected home until late.
"Evening, Yagami-san," I said, bowing my head in respect. Sayu passed me to Light who pulled out my chair and gently eased me in. Quinn looked on amusedly.
"Good evening, Minerva-san. It's good to see you out of the hospital."
"I couldn't stand the food. Sachiko's cooking is so much better."
"You flatter me, Minerva-chan. Feel free to start."
Light, at my right, piled my plate high with Quinn's favourite meal. My brother acted the part of the gentleman Granny Hiro had raised him to be by serving Sayu first before himself. As soon as he took a bite I knew I would need to get the recipe from Sachiko; his expression was nearing ecstasy.
Over the course of dinner I fell more and more in love with the Yagami family. Their easy conversation, the way they accepted Quinn and I as though we had been there all along and their ability to avoid awkward pauses endeared them to me in a way not many families did. Sayu kept it light hearted, Sachiko gave wise, loving comments when needed, Light teased his sister incessantly and Soichiro provided the heart of the conversation. If it wasn't for Ryuk in the corner I could have smiled the whole time.
Then the conversation took a decidedly darker turn onto the subject of Kira.
"Ugh, I hate him. Really," said Sayu. "He kills people!"
"Light, what do you think of him?" asked Soichiro, something in his eye telling me that he was testing his son. Light rose to the challenge in his masterful, lying by saying,
"He's acting the wrong way. If he wants to change something he has to do it in a way that everyone respects. Otherwise the justice system will attack him when they could possibly work alongside." Light ate another mouthful. I did too, to avoid stabbing a gaping hole in his statement.
"Hmm." Soichiro stared ahead, seeing nothing.
"Sir, I heard that L is working with the Japanese police force to apprehend Kira," said Light.
"Yes he is, but I can't talk about it further than that, Light. The case is classified."
"Of course." Silence followed, and I was about to speak just to lift the feeling of suffocation that was draping itself over my shoulders when Sayu piped up.
"Have you heard that Hideki Ryuga is doing a new show! He's so amazing," she gushed. Quinn snorted and suddenly he was dragged into an argument over the merits of television personalities. I watched with a grin as my brother tried to convince the stubborn girl that celebrities weren't all they were purported to be. Quinn hadn't been this animated in months.
"Minerva-chan, do you want to stay the night?" Sachiko asked quietly.
"Oh, don't worry. We can call a taxi. It's too much for me to impose myself on you so much."
"It's no trouble."
"Nevertheless, I would feel guilty if we did."
"Well, you can stay as long as you like," she said.
"You and your brother are always welcome here," Soichiro put in, a rare smile gracing his lips. My heart felt like it was expanding as I took their invitation to heart. I couldn't stop the large grin.
"Thank you to you both," I said sincerely. Soichiro muttered something and took another drink of his tea. Sachiko winked at me over the rim of her cup.
After dinner Sayu took it upon herself to show Quinn the wonder that is Hideki Ryuga by forcing him to sit through the first few episodes of her favourite show of the celebrity. He did so with only a token protest, I noted with a smirk. Seeing the two on the couch together, Sayu gesturing wildly as soon as her heartthrob appeared while Quinn stared at her in near shock, gave me the urge to draw the scene.
Where did I leave my bag . . . oh, Light's room. Great. More stairs. With a deep breath, I limped over to the staircase and gazed into the dark hallway above. Suddenly the journey was a lot more daunting than it had been that morning.
"Do you need help?" asked Light, appearing at my shoulder. I bit back a sigh and let him loop an arm around my waist. Before I could stop him, though, he had me hoisted in the air, another arm beneath my knees, and was carrying me up the stairs with Ryuk following. A loud 'Awww' came from Sayu's direction.
Light kicked the door shut and dropped me on his bed. I stared up at his looming form, the twisted smile, the hands held carefully at his sides, and said,
"Your family is wonderful."
"They're expendable."
And like that, my joy was gone. I glared at him and leaned over the bed, groping for my bag. He kicked it out of reach.
"Are we doing power plays now?" I asked flatly.
"If I have to. Tell me what you know about L."
"No."
"Minerva . . ."
I held up a hand. "I have one demand, Light Yagami. One. Leave me and Quinn and your family out of it. Your father, I get that he's working on the case so that can't be avoided, but Sachiko and Sayu don't need to be involved. They are innocents. Quinn is innocent. And I . . . I've already seen too many horrible things to want to go through more. So keep the Death Note out of my sight, never mention Kira around me and I will stay. I won't put up a fuss, I won't nag, I won't push my own morals on you. Just leave me out of it."
"What about Ryuk?" The Shinigami waved a clawed hand. I turned to the creature.
"What can you do to me?"
"Huh?" said Ryuk.
"What can you do to me? Can you hurt me physically? Apart from writing my name down in your notebook what is within your capabilities?"
He cackled. "I'm not going to do anything to you. You're too interesting."
I gave him a measuring look, and decided to take his words as a compliment. "Thanks."
"Besides, Light wouldn't let me do anything to you anyway." This time it was Light's turn to glare, skewering the Shinigami with such a look that the breath was stolen from my lungs. Wisely, Ryuk got up and floated away, leaving us alone. Light sat on his bed, so still it was hard to imagine he was anything but a statue.
I considered him. I considered this boy, who was nearly a year my junior according to Sayu, and what went on inside his mind? What drove him to such lengths that he would be willing to kill to create a perfect world, to put himself on a pedestal that would undoubtedly end in a hard, painful fall from power? Would it be possible to turn him from this path, to turn him away from the allure of Kira?
Bright red eyes flickered in my mind's eye, the cold of the steel knife in my throat chilling me to the bone.
Stay out of it, I told myself. Anything to do with Kira will lead to ruin. Ignore it. Don't involve yourself and L won't involve himself in you. After all, that was what terrified me almost more than Light right now. The possibility of L finding out where I was.
"Oh, Minerva-chan? I was wondering if you and your brother would like to join us for the opera on the 28th of January? It's the first time in years Madame Butterfly is being performed and I have been wanting to see it." Sachiko smiled from the doorway as Quinn and I headed to Soichiro's waiting car. We shared a look. Within Quinn's eyes flickered interest, tempered by the nervousness of a night out with people he didn't know well in a still-foreign city. For once I decided not to humour his anxiety.
"Of course, Sachiko. We would love to." Quinn's expression distorted into shock. I smiled, bowed slightly to Light's mother, and grabbed my brother's hand. He stumbled along behind as I towed him to the car. Light was sitting in the passenger seat. Ryuk, again, followed along, jumping from streetlamp to streetlamp like a demented urban monkey. As soon as Quinn and I got back to the apartment, we collapsed on the couch, exhausted for entirely different reasons.
"Sayu scares me," said Quinn.
"They all scare me," I replied. "But at least they're better than Mello."
"That's true." Quinn curled up, pressing himself into my side and falling asleep in seconds. With a groan I picked him up and carried him to his bed, my leg screaming in protest. Settling him beneath his sheets, I brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes and planted a kiss on his forehead.
My sweet, sweet baby brother. Please, God, let him not get mixed up in all this.
A chill down my spine told me that my prayer may not be answered in the way I'd like.
Friday December 12th. Light invited me over under the guise of study, which his family immediately assumed was a cover for us to spend time alone together. That would have been preferable. Instead he showed me the set up in his desk for the security of the Death Note. I wondered why, and seeing no reason not to, I asked him.
"So you can burn it in the case I am not around."
"Leave me out of this, Light. I said I don't want to be a part of this."
He took my hand, pulling me too close for comfort. "I just need to know that if I'm in trouble, this won't be a problem. You're my last line of defence." My fingers twitched in his with the barely repressed urge to slap him and his manipulation. Instead I nodded. He smiled.
"Sayu wanted me to draw her again." I pulled away and went downstairs, both confused and worried about the way a part of me wanted to stay next to him, his warm fingers laced through mine. Shaking my head, I greeted Sayu and Sachiko and took out my art supplies.
On the news the reporters spoke of Kira's new mode of killing on the hour. Sachiko clicked her tongue and turned off the television, muttering to herself about the insanity of the killer. For some reason, I couldn't find it within myself to agree.
On Sunday I was called down to the lobby to meet my guests. Light and Sayu stood by the reception desk, the bored receptionist eyeing Sayu speculatively when Light wasn't looking. I vowed to mention something to his girlfriend next time she showed up.
"Minerva-chan!" Sayu cried, bounding over to hug me.
"Hey," I replied, nodding at Light over her head. He nodded back and we rode up to the apartment.
"It's a nice building," he commented.
"It was the safety features that interested Quinn and I. Some of the best in Tokyo, from what I can tell."
"Really?"
"Uh huh."
"Hey, Quinn!" Sayu ran out of the lift as soon as the doors opened, rushing to meet my brother on the couch and gaping at the view from the windows. I left Light to examine the kitchen and the living room, wandering over to the nearby easel where my latest painting was set up. Mr Pinstripe Man was written on a post-it note and stuck to the easel's tripod. The picture itself was dark, of a man under the cover of night, standing alone in the glow of a streetlight holding his hat low over his eyes, one foot pressed on the carved green metal of the pole. His suit was of the darkest blue I could find, offsetting the bright copper hair just visible in the shadows cast by the hat.
"Is that . . . me?" Light asked, coming up behind me. I quickly threw a spare painting shirt over it, hiding Light's likeness from view.
"Don't we have studying to do?" I asked him, heading to my room to grab my study gear. He followed and leant on my doorframe. I picked my way through the mess of sketchbooks, pencils and water-based paints to my school bag on the barely-visible bed.
"How do you sleep in here?"
"Very carefully. It stops me from sleepwalking, at least."
"Do you sleepwalk?"
"Not anymore."
"Did you stop for the same reason your nightmares did?" I froze, Japanese textbook in hand. Glancing around, I saw Light shut the door with a quiet snick.
"What do you mean?" I asked quietly.
"You used to have nightmares. You said it before. So," he stepped forwards. "What stopped them?"
I straightened up, walked right up to him, and said, "Why do you even care?" To my delight, he hesitated for a moment. A single second but it was more than enough to have triumph welling in my chest. He recovered easily.
"You're my friend. Shouldn't friends be concerned when they learn their friends suffered from nightmares and still have them occasionally?"
I couldn't help it. I laughed. Whacking his shoulder like I would Quinn, I walked out the door, saying, "If you want that line to work, try not to sound so unsure. Someone would mistake you for friendless." I shot him a grin over my shoulder.
"So, kiddos," I said to Sayu and Quinn when I reached the living room. "Who needs to study what?"
Hours later, as the younger two put away the dishes from dinner – jambalaya; I decided to branch out – I asked Light something I'd been mulling over for the past few days.
"Would your family like to come over for Christmas dinner?"
"Of course." He raised his eyebrows in a non-verbal question.
"I've had a large family Christmas dinner for past two years," I explained. "It wouldn't be fair on Quinn to not take an opportunity to continue the tradition if possible."
"Not fair on Quinn?"
Sigh. "Stop trying to analyse everything, Light Yagami. Not everything is so layered." I got up and went over to the covered painting, tugging off the shirt. "Sometimes people just act on a whim."
Perhaps I should have seen something coming that morning. To be woken with a phone call, having never been called by Light before, should have warned me to be on my guard. I was, to some extent, but not nearly enough. Definitely not enough.
The high pitched ring broke the quiet of my room and I rolled over, pushing over several boxes of pencils as I did so. I groped for my phone, almost knocked it to the ground, and flipped it open without checking the caller ID.
"Yeah?"
"Minerva? I was wondering if you were free today."
Instantly, I sat up, swallowing. "No . . . why?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to come to Space Land with me."
TOWRTA: Not sure how pleased I am with this scene. Not sure how please I am with this story in general. After all, I wrote the plot a number of years ago and have improved since then so we'll just have to see if I can make it better. At least I have a couple of name drops in here, ehehe.
Thanks to my reviewers and everyone who followed and favourited. You are the ones who make me keep writing!
Next time: Raye Penber and Kiichiro Osoreda. How will Minerva react to watching Light kill in front of her?
Review if you wish. It may get the next chapter out faster, hint hint.
28.08.15: slight edit. Just changed the wording of the last section to get it to fit with the next chapter better.
Oh, and is anyone else having issues with the viewer count for their stories?