Disclaimer: I still don't own Death Note! Oh nos!
So this chapter's
longer than the last two… THANK YOU ZOMG I HAVE READERS!
-
insert high pitched squee -
Thank you Thien and
Reichtwix!
Anyways, I was wondering where I can get a Beta reader…
Seeing as I completely fucked up interaction between Light and L, and
need someone to fix that.
Okei… Read and review please!
Or just review.
Srsly.
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"Ryuzaki, might I ask what you're typing?"
'What would you say Yagami-kun, if I told you I had no idea?' Yet willowy fingers continued to dance over the keyboard, the letter being lengthened as though the writer did not think there was no point to his task. To L, the distant – though sudden – realization that the precautions would be unnecessary was merely an inconsequential fact, and he never ceased, his speed only declining slightly as he picked up the sugar-sated drink off the table and brought it to his lips with one hand. The ceaseless flow of methodical notes and unquestionable orders filled the word processor, with the detective only making the necessary checks of his pedagogy to be certain he left no hints of his person for a curious profiler to unearth. It had happened once. Otherwise, the world would never have known that L was male. 'Would you think I was losing my mind? Would you even bother with pretending you thought otherwise?'
"A letter to the NPA, Light-kun," the older male replied, and an outsider would have thought the quirky man had surmounted his initial shock, probably snapping out of the reverie his suspect had hinted. "Concerning the information they release. We both know Kira requires a name and face to commit murder, so I have proposed an experiment to determine how much of the name is needed."
"So only inaccurate information will be released to the public?"
A strong sense of déjà vu engulfed L, and he had to stop to pick through his jean pockets for anything to rejuvenate his sucrose levels. Chocolate coated marshmallows, no matter how deformed, always suited everything, along with anything that contained sugar. "Not entirely, just for a handful of criminals, they will have a few letters in their names altered and… middle names."
The flat screen at their pseudo headquarters suddenly flashed before L's eyes, a list on one side consisting of three columns, the first two on the left baring the correct and incorrect names of various criminals, the final one consisting of every other transgressor known to police. Only a handful from the longest list had their names altered, and no one but L knew the proper spelling. 'Each member of the team had two or three improper names sent to them in the list as well over a duration of weeks...'
The detective was not just beginning to hate how his mind seemed to wander randomly. "Light-kun, where is everyone?"
"Huh? Ryuzaki… You haven't remembered…"
'Oh nos, oh my! They were all killed by Kira!' The incessant tapping of keys did not stop immediately, while the detective examined the speaker through his peripheral vision, pupils never leaving the computer monitor. The teenage genius appeared sincerely incredulous, and L's belief that nothing about Light Yagami was ever sincere momentarily faltered. He could practically read the boy's expression: confused impatience, wondering when the detective's internal CPU would turn on again, only partially laughing about how many bugs had infected the system.
Swiveling in his chair, arm wrapped around long legs and thumb finally comfortably rested between pale lips, he turned to face the handsome male, only to shake his head slowly. Still, no proper emotion was visible in his puzzling eyes. The exasperated sigh he heard only made the investigator bite on scabby skin, nearly breaking through the defenses his body had formed around his regularly besieged flesh. "You told them they could have a coffee break."
L was about to spurt out his tongue in laughter. Sure that would happen! He just conveniently expelled everyone from the room so he could be alone with a potential murderer. It was not that he was scared, but he was merely concerned about Soichiro Yagami, who was so obviously worried about his son's position as a charm bracelet. It was Soichiro who demanded his son's human rights be met, after all.
"Matsuda brought up a point regarding the need for… Fresh air… That was rather-"
"Stupid," L interrupted easily, a seemingly innocent smile tugging at his features, which was made cynical by the rest of his face. Immature did not necessarily mean child-like. The other male scoffed.
"I would have said ridiculous, but that works."
The sardonic grin on the younger teen's face jerked away the momentary lapse of negligence, making depthless eyes narrow ever so slightly while their owner's smirk congealed on his face. Light looked so naturally mocking it killed him. Averting his gaze, finding the ceiling once more interesting, the detective twisted his body to the side, setting his seat in motion, while his thumb curved into the corner of his lips. "Why, is there something you want from downstairs?"
Was there a shortage of tooth decay in the room? His monotone slightly muffled, as the chair began to rotate, he murmured, "Wanted to ask Watari for more -"
L momentarily wondered why he had chosen to disrupt himself. His expression stoic once more, the investigator curled his lips around his thumb, teeth grazing over the familiar territory as he turned his head to examine where the back of his swivel chair had bumped the table. The mouse pad was covered with drops of tea, his half-empty cup consumed further. "Cake."
Blinking slowly, he slipped off his seat, each motion languid so the man appeared to ooze into position before he adjusted his chair's station, which allowed him to spin without hindrance. L looked even more peculiar than normal. Usually, chairs without wheels were placed at a desirable distance from their occupant's workplace before the detective started. He would not conceive starting a task otherwise. Only one as perceptive as Light would notice the deepened scowl on the genius's forlorn mug. As if taking the silence as a cue, the door opened to reveal a balding old man, his posture able, sure. It was harder to say if L was more excited by the sight of his handler or the strawberry coffee cake in his grasp.
At that moment, L wanted nothing more than to run to his caretaker, tackle the man in a bear hug and scream into his leather jacket – dessert and the chained Yagami be damned.
But it passed.
There was a grin broad enough to put the Cheshire cat to shame on his lips, but the feeling passed. He would almost admit he regretted its departure.
Light chuckled in good-humor beside him, which L trusted as much as he would a wolf guarding sheep. At least he was returning to his 'old self.' The fleeting holiday, however, was enough to frighten the bejesus out of him – or into him as the case may be. He probably had the comfortingly familiar scent of cake and refined sugar to thank, and undoubtedly the person who remained in the adjacent room, attempting to complete the task assigned to him before sugar withdrawal sent him on another quest for his charge. L had hoped his assistant would be able to identify any patterns in the killings he might have missed. "Light-kun, what do you think about the investigation?"
His thumb hadn't moved from its place between his lips, which muffled the question but the detective was more concerned with directing his spoon through the fluffy heavenliness that was his cake. It needed more whip cream. The convenience of the bottle on the floor was too much.
"What is my percentage of being Kira?" L could feel the younger male's brown ('No they aren't… Crimson… Have I seen such eyes hateful before?') eyes boring into him while his suspect's tone lost any sense of lightheartedness.
Light Yagami was still well. Despite his superior's momentary lapse of sense, the teenager appeared unaffected. As long as there was that anchor of worry, the detective would be forced to out maneuver it, which was as comforting as his enemy could be.
"I believe questions normally invoke answers."
"Perhaps, just not yours, Ryuzaki." The faint trace of melancholy in the brunette's tone made L inwardly smirk, while he reflexively praised the one he could not help but loathe.
"I do not see what separated my questions from others."
"About 100 IQ points on the speaker's behalf."
"Hm… Perhaps seventy-five maybe…" Something other than his dessert had finally warranted the great detective's blank stare, which wasn't obscured by the tousled bangs hanging over his slate eyes. A little Light always brought out his juvenile side, but the cozy silence that should have befallen them was absent. It was as if both were preparing to stab the other. The smiles on their faces could have been painted. "And the determining opinion of my innocence as Kira."
Slowly their pretensions melted away, with L needing to catch himself before he completely slipped into hundreds upon thousands chaotically organized suspicions, analyzing even the young actor's breathing. Figurative battle armor it was, brought on by such an innocuous question. "If you truly aren't Kira, Light-kun, you have nothing to fear."
There was a healthy pause, both men refusing to move an inch in a seemingly childish game of statues. Their eyes seemed unable to leave each others' faces, their owners searching for the faintest hint of emotion in their 'opponent's' features and both failing horribly.
It was Light who broke the silence first, appearing to relax in his seat, even managing a laugh though he never looked away. "Of course, Ryuzaki. I have nothing to lose."
'Why do you still drop hints, Yagami-kun? You aren't protecting yourself just... baiting.' The silence was too long, the hesitant stares of worry, the added Red Herrings. There was more than the annoyance of an innocent prisoner behind the boy's gaze, and two percent was instantly added to a mental tally. 'You even humor me…'
"There is something we are missing before the… Finale if you will, Ryuzaki. All the roads are already pointing towards Yotsuba group, though which one of them is Kira is, as you know, the only thing that is hindering us. It is a mere technicality, however… Their methods… are keeping us from… Kira."
His insides were squirming with the lack of sustenance. Cake was food for thought, and allowed the swarthy-haired man to smile at his companion. "And in relation to the investigation of the first?"
"Perhaps this third Kira will lead us to the first." L did not appreciate the hesitation between the question and answer, but it was hard to not appreciate anything with strawberry cake in your mouth.
"What does Light-kun think?"
"I think I am the only one contributing to this conversation, Ryuzaki."
"We cannot have that now, can we?"
One of them had to blink eventually.
L could almost see the younger male fantasizing about stabbing him in the eye with the spoon in his mouth.
Light was mentally damning the speck of dust that drifted into his eye to Hell.
A smirk from the older detective was the equivalent of being pointed and laughed at. L secretly wished for a more violent reaction than his junior's resigned sigh.
"I think not, Ryuzaki. The targets of this Kira have a range too different from the first for them to be related in that sense. I do not think the first Kira would approve of these targets, making me wonder as to why the first Kira would have allowed his or her weapon to fall into another's hands. It is assumable, one of the Yotsuba group might have simply stumbled upon the… murder weapon."
"You do not think that the weapon could have been stolen from the first Kira?"
"Again, I suppose it is a possibility… But I doubt the Yotsuba group would have located Kira faster than we could, ey, Ryuzaki? What do you think?"
'What if the first Kira was simply killed, a sort of poetic justice in the form of karma, Yagami-kun? It is unlikely, but would you agree to that possibility? Could you consider the Kira to be dead?' "We are indefinitely closer to discovering all the Kiras."
As Light arched an eyebrow, L could only wonder how long the teen took plucking them. Calculating physiological movements and the subject's meticulousness, it meant a long time. "Oh…? Is there some new evidence I have missed?"
"Nothing you haven't already seen." He didn't enjoy the glimmer of emotion behind his opponent's eyes, despite the somber look on the younger male's features. The detective hadn't entertained his cake in three full minutes. 'How much of yourself can you manipulate, Kira? Five percent more…'
"You will never find Kira, L."
The spoon in his hand nearly fell, the detective taken aback (or as taken aback as he could ever be) by the chill in his suspect's tone. The expression was as always, unreadable. The tension was almost as delicious as Watari's cake, which now lurched uncomfortably in a once calm stomach.
He loved it when Light spoke his name, the dawdled coo of 'Eru,' a contemptuous challenge hidden beneath disgusted respect. It always was.
The rest of the team chose that moment to return, true to their word, coffee in hand. Matsuda had a paper bag that L suddenly knew held a croissant.
"Not without any help, I mean."
He didn't care for Light's cover up, which they both knew was for the sake of anyone who bothered to listen. He was inclined to agree with the teen, though his pride conveniently squashed that wayward thought. The room was too noisy.
"I am more than you've left me, Light."