Chapter 16 Who's Fault

"Daddy?" Sayu whimpered, standing in the doorway of her father's hospital room. He looked so…weak, sleeping in his bed. His skin was drawn tight across his bones and he seemed to have lost so much weight. "Daddy, I'm so sorry." Various machines were connected to Sayu's father's body, beeping continuatively as she entered the room.

She softly stepped over to the side of his bed. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she lightly touched her father's hand as it rested on top of the blanket. This…this was her fault. He was already stressed chasing Kira, and she'd only added to it by being a rebellious brat. No doubt Mom had told him about the "sleepovers" she had almost every day now, or about how, during the rare moments she was home, Sayu barely came out of her room.

She pulled up an uncomfortable, plastic chair and sat at the side of her father's bed. "Daddy…" She whispered, the endearment slipping from her lips as she cried for the first time since her childhood. "I've done a lot of bad things…a lot of it, I don't regret… For a while, I thought I could be a psychopath, unable to feel regret, but…I regret this. Oh, Daddy, I'm so sorry!" Sayu doubled over, sobs wracking her body with incredible force, not even noticing the presence in the doorway.

"Sayu-chan?" She jerked up, staring wide-eyed at L's hunched form.

"R-Ryuzaki?" Inside, Sayu was cursing. She'd shown weakness in front of an enemy! Albeit, he didn't know that they were enemies, that she was Sugar, that she knew he was L. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I work with your father, so I came with your brother to make sure he's alright. Light is out in the hallway, talking to a doctor."

She nodded and sniffled, a new wave of tears cascading down her cheeks. She rubbed them absently. "Sorry…I'm not always such a mess. It's just, when I heard, I thought—" That they were close. Close enough for Light to panic. Close enough for his own father to be a threat to his little power trip.

"Kira." L supplied and she nodded.

"But now—" She took a deep breath. "Now they're telling me it was because of stress, and that's almost worse, because now it's my fault, he's hurt because of me—"

L did something shocking and grabbed her arm to stop her. She stared up at him, flushed and tear-stained. "He's not in here because of you." He said, a ting of emotion touching his voice.

"Yes, he is—"

"No." He pulled her up to her feet and into his arms, burying her head into his chest. Sayu floundered for a second before unconsciously relaxing. "Your father loves you. He won't blame you, so don't blame yourself."

She nodded into his shirt and stayed in his hug for a few more minutes, only breaking away when Light's voice was heard in the hallway.

A few days later************************************************

Sayu smiled, relaxed. Her dad was doing better and everything was going okay on the Kira case. Then she turned on the TV.

"This just in; we, at Sakera TV, are all being held hostage by Kira!"