guile

The endless field of bones was thinning out, individual skeletons becoming separate and distinguishable, no longer heaps of pieces from unsolved, mixed-up, unsolvable puzzles.

Lawliet was crouched down next to one that looked like it had been kicked at some point, bones scattered slightly, and he was carefully putting it back together. It was starting to resemble some kind of small cat.

'Did you ever have pets, Kira?' asked Lawliet, holding up a couple vertebrae to better examine them.

Light was leaning against a rock and watching him idly, arms crossed over his chest. 'I had a little sister.'

Lawliet glanced at him, before setting the vertebrae down in the ash, lining them up in order. 'That's different.'

'Sorry,' said Light. 'That was an inside joke. I used to tease her.'

Lawliet picked up another vertebra. 'Did you have a good relationship with your sister?' He set the vertebra in the ash, in line with the others.

'I suppose so,' said Light. 'We didn't fight, which is apparently unusual between siblings.'

Lawliet paused in the process of placing another vertebra, glancing at him. 'Kira didn't need to fight to get things his way.'

'Fighting is counter-productive,' said Light. He tossed the hair out of his eyes. 'What about you, L? I can't imagine you were allowed pets at the orphanage.'

'No,' said Lawliet, nudging the vertebrae together into a natural curve from skull to tail. 'But there was a cat at the orphanage, for a while. I used to sneak her food, and she would destroy my shoes.' The skeleton looked slightly off, and he nudged a gap into the spine where there seemed to be a vertebra missing, before his hand retreated back to rest on a knee. 'After the fourth pair, I was finally allowed to stay barefoot.'

'Manipulating a cat into destroying your shoes, L?' said Light, and the corner of his lips quirked. 'With the food, no doubt. That's rather juvenile.'

Lawliet gazed over the ash, looking for the missing vertebra. 'I was quite young at the time.'

'You always did play dirty,' said Light, and pushed off from the wall.

Lawliet's dark eyes settled on him. 'That is an unfair conclusion to come to from such limited information.'

Crouching down, Light picked up the vertebra that had been cast astray, standing back up as he brushed off the ash and turned the bone over in his hands. 'But it's not inaccurate, is it?'

Lawliet watched Light toss the vertebra into the air and then catch it. 'No.'

Light walked over and dropped the vertebra in front of Lawliet, creating a small crater in the ash. 'Yeah.' He tucked his hands into his pockets. 'That's what I thought.'

Lawliet looked at him for a moment, and then silently took the vertebra and completed the cat's spine.