A/N: Okay, in the next, and last, chapter, I will tell you all the meaning behind the name of this fic. If you have already figured it out, then congratulations! You get no prize other than self satisfaction.
Disclaimer: I only own crazy Keiko in this chapter, everthing else goes to the ingenious owners of Death Note and the country of Japan.
Chapter 2 Safe in Here from All the Stupid Questions
Zoe walked down the sidewalk next to a Tokyo street. Winter break was over and she had gotten the chance from UCLA to study abroad in Tokyo, Japan. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity, she immediately accepted the offer and packed her things right away. She still kept in contact with Carrie through the phone and E-mail but because E-mail cost her nothing, that was usually how they communicated.
Tokyo was rather deserted at nine o'clock at night; there was barely anyone out walking and only a few cars passed by on the street. It was nice to feel like you had some elbow room, unlike rush hour where there was barely any place to put your hands without feeling like you were going to violate the person in front, back, or to the side of you.
It had been almost six months since Matt had been dragged away from her by Mello and taken away. Even in that amount of time, she had not called him once; she could not bring herself to call him. Unlike her mouth, her hands actually stopped to think of what they were doing before they actually did it. Another possibility popped into her head whenever she thought about calling Matt; what if Mello answered? By how he acted when she had first met him, he really did not like her at all. Come to think of it, I don't like Mello either. Mello had this arrogant aura about him that seemed to radiate off anyone, or anything, around him. He was bossy, domineering, and conceited; she honestly did not know why Matt was friends with him. The man had serious anger problems as well; she remembered well when she mentioned his scar or his name, he was on the brink of snapping and ripping her head off, yet she could not bring herself to stop her remarks. She now wished that she had actually called Matt at least once over the months, that is why she asked for his number, right?
As she arrived at a rather large intersection, she noticed that tons of people were gathered around a big television screen built into the side of one of the many buildings that lined the street. Stopping at the edge of the crowd, she looked up at the screen and noticed that it was the news, live feed of Lady Takada walking into the NHN building. Yippee, she thought sarcastically. All she is is a fucking tool for Kira; who, by the way, is probably just some retarded human bastard who had gotten it into his head that he could live forever and become a God. Pish, like that could ever happen. I don't see how people can be so fond of Takada, seriously.
Suddenly, there was a loud screech on the television and the camera was diverted from Takada just in time to see a young man with red hair and goggles fire off a smokescreen gun. Then another screech was heard through the smoke and the camera was switched off and the view was turned back to the anchorman. What the-? Zoe could not believe what she had just seen. That was…no…it couldn't have been. He's back in America right now. Shaking off the possibility that the person on the TV was Matt, she continued on her way when she stopped in her tracks from her phone ringing in her back pocket. Taking it out, she flipped it open and pressed the "talk" button.
"Hey, mom," she said after reading the caller-ID. "How's it going over there, you on break?"
"Yes, I just came out of a major surgery. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
Zoe sat down on a bench that faced the street. "I'm fine. Just walking back to my car after going to see a movie, you?" Yes, she did have her blue Mustang with her. She had protested about bringing it to Japan with her but after a harrowing battle, her mother and father had won her over, insisting that she would need it.
"I'm fine. How are things over there? Keiko feeding you well?"
"Yes mom, Keiko's feeding me well." Zoe sighed. Keiko was her very attractive, and rather horny, Japanese roommate at the college she was attending. Keiko was studying nursing at the university. That explains it, Zoe thought as she rolled her eyes. Being horny is how mom and dad met, and had me most likely.
"You getting enough sleep at night?" her mom asked, still prying.
Suddenly, a little more than half a dozen black sedans sped into the intersection and stopped at each out-going road, blocking the entrance and exit of any cars that entered from the one open street or the other three that were blocked. "Uh, yeah mom, I'm getting enough sleep. Listen, could you hold on for a sec?"
"Sure thing, honey."
Removing the phone from her ear, Zoe walked up to one of the many people that had been herded to the side of the road. "Excuse me," she said in almost perfect Japanese. "Could you please tell me what's going on?"
The person she asked, a middle-aged man who looked rather excited, turned to her and almost shouted at her with excitement. "They're going to corner the man from the television here and kill him! All defilers of Kira must be punished by death." That said, the man turned back to the scene unfolding before them.
"Okay, sorry mom, I'm back," she said after placing the receiver back on her ear and shoving her way to the front of the crowd. "So, lose any patients today?"
"Just a few, but most of them your father and I were able to save."
"That's cool," she replied, not really listening. She was more interested in seeing if the man in the car was really Matt or not. As soon as she had reached the front of the crowd and had a clear view of the intersection, the red car shown on the large building screen spun to a halt in the center of all the black sedans stationed around the intersection. "Hey wait a minute! That car looks like Mello's!"
"What was that, dear?" her mother asked from the other line.
"Nothing, mom. Nevermind." Zoe looked to see who was sitting in the driver's seat of the red sports car. She saw red hair, orange tinted goggles, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, a tan, fuzzy vest, and a red and black long-sleeved stripped shirt with black leather gloves. Oh my God! Holy crap! It IS Matt!
"Zoe, dear? Are you alright?" her mother sounded from the other line back in Los Angeles, obviously worried from her daughter's sudden and long silence.
"Yes, mom, I'm fine. Look, something's come up. Can I call you back later?" she asked as she removed the phone from her ear. Zoe heard her mother say, "Okay, talk to you later," right before she pressed the "end" button. Making sure she was a good distance away from the crazy Kira supporters around her, Zoe opened her contacts list on her phone and pressed "talk" when the name of the man she had been so reluctant to call for the past six months was highlighted in dark green. She tapped her foot nervously while it rang a few times before it was answered by a deep voice.
"Hello?" The voice sounded rather confused; the man on the other line not knowing why someone would be calling him at a time like that.
Without even thinking, Zoe opened her mouth and let her voice echo into the speaker. "Don't get out of the car."
--
One black-booted foot slammed on the break when Matt saw all the black sedans of Takada's body guards parked in the intersection in which he was headed. The wheels on the red sports car squealed with protest and he turned the steering wheel hard to the right causing the car to spin a few times before finally coming to a stop in the middle of all the sedans. Turning the keys in the ignition to the "off" position, Matt rested his arms on the dashboard of the car and analyzed the situation. Let's see, if I refuse to get out of the car, they could kill me if they wanted to. On the other hand, because they have their guns raised and at the ready right now, they may be planning on doing that anyway. Then again, if I tell them that I am connected to Takada's kidnapper and mention that they might want to ask me questions, then they won't…but before I get to the part where I mention asking me questions, they might shoot me any way. Well, I guess I could give it a shot anyway.
Just as he reached for the door handle to let himself out of the car, his phone began to ring. "What the hell?" he wondered aloud. "Who would call me now, Mello?" Taking the phone out of his vest pocket, he looked at the caller-ID. "Unknown number. Huh, I guess it wouldn't hurt." Flipping it open, he pressed the "talk" button and answered it. "Hello?"
Almost immediately, a female voice he had never heard before, yet sounded strangely familiar said, "Don't get out of the car."
"What?" Who was this person, how did they know he was in the car, and more importantly, how did they get his number? "Do I know you?" he asked.
He heard an exasperated sigh on the other line before the person spoke again. "Don't tell me you don't remember my voice? Well, it has been almost six months, so I guess it is a bit understandable."
He really had no idea who this person was. "Who ARE you?" he asked, getting agitated.
"Oh, come on, six months ago, Los Angeles, the local Game Stop. You wanted to buy Assassin's Creed, but there was only one left and I got there first. We had a small conversation, then Mello showed up and dragged you off to work with him on the Kira case. Don't you remember?" The person on the other line sounded completely serious so he decided to take her word for it. He racked his memory, trying to remember ever meeting a girl in a gaming store. Then it hit him, she was right, how could he not remember! He had been thinking about her every day after Mello had dragged him out of that store to work on the Kira case. But what was her name? Linda? No, that was one of his friend's from Wammy's. Zelda? Of course not! Her name was not that ridiculous; he was probably thinking of the Legend of Zelda while trying to remember her name. Gaah! What was it!? He recalled the last name he had thought of. Wait! It starts with a "Z." Z-Z-Zoe! Her name is Zoe!
"I remember now! You're Zoe! I gave you my number after you told me I was cute."
"Good job, slowpoke," she said with a sarcastic tone. "Now, let's focus on the task at hand. They plan on killing you here so-."
Matt cut her off before she could finish what she was about to say. "Wait, you're in Japan? What are you doing in Japan?"
He heard her sigh. "Save the questions for later, now focus!"
"Another question, where are you?"
There was a short silence before she spoke again. "I'm right in front of you, twit; a bit separate from the rest of the crowd. My hair is in a ponytail, I'm wearing a black, leather jacket, a white shirt, baggy, camouflage pants, and black and white high-top converse shoes. Look straight ahead of you, I'm waving my arm high in the air."
He looked right in front of him and sure enough, there she was. Oh, how he missed her, sure, he had forgotten her name, but he had never forgotten her. He thought about her whenever he was bored or he just was not talking with Mello, and even when he was playing his games! He never let her slip his mind and replayed their meeting in his mind every day. Now that she was right in front of him again, his mind immediately switched to thoughts of her, of being with her. He almost forgot about the fact that he was staring Death right in the face. "I see you, now what were you saying?"
Another exasperated sigh. "I was saying that these guys out here with the guns are planning on killing you, so my advice to you is, STAY IN THE FUCKING CAR!" She practically screamed the last five words into the mouthpiece of her phone.
"I get it, I get it," he said in return as if trying to shut her up. "But I've already got an idea that will make sure that they don't kill me." He could almost sense her rolling her eyes.
"Well, it looks like these guys are growing impatient, so you better hurry, or they'll shoot you anyway."
"Very well," was all he said as he opened the door and bent over to get out. Just as he put one foot out with the door slightly ajar, the air was filled with flying bullets and sounds of the men before him pulling their triggers repeatedly, and maybe a bit more than necessary. "Hoh, SHIT!" he cried as he ducked behind the car door and heard the metal bullets embed themselves into the fiberglass, which was the only thing that stood between him and certain death. The glass window that sat right in front of his face, shattered and dozens of tiny glass shards flew at him and nestled right into his soft flesh. Doing the only thing that seemed plausible at the time, Matt laid down on his back on the leather seat, his breath coming in short rasps. The only thing that he could think of was seeing Zoe one more time, he did not care if he died right after, he just wanted to see her, see her smiling face and shining hazel eyes again.
He did not know what he felt about her, only that thinking about her kept him from feeling the sudden rising pain emanating from his foot, shoulder and side. He knew he had been hit, but he did not care. All of his instincts told him to lay there, to not move, to stay alive.
He had removed the phone from his ear while he had been sheltered behind the door. He did not realize it until he heard Zoe's voice come out of the receiver. "Holy crap, Matt, are you okay?" She sounded worried beyond all get out. Her voice was shaky, but still the strong voice he knew.
Slowly and painfully, he brought the phone back to his face and said quietly, "Yeah, I'm alive at least."
"Are you hit?" she asked, relieved but still sounding worried.
"Yeah, my left foot's been shot to hell, a bullet grazed my left side and about two or three bullets found a new home in my right shoulder. Also, a bunch of glass got me in the face, but aside from that, I'm just peachy, how about you?" Sarcasme was oozing out of his voice.
"You've been hit, good."
Matt could not believe his ears. "GOOD!?" he screamed. "How is me getting shot good!?"
"Keep your voice down!" she shot back. "Getting shot means that they will think that they did their job. Now, lay still for a while and pretend to be dead."
"But-," he tried to protest.
"And put out that damn cigarette, it makes you look like your still breathing," she said, completely ignoring him. Giving in, Matt did as she had instructed him. He quickly put out his cigarette then laid his head back down on the leather seat and played dead; he kept his phone on just in case something else came up that he could not see.
Everything was silent for the few minutes that he laid there, all except for the voices of the men conversing outside and his slow and steady breathing. Matt could not hear what they were talking about outside of the car, but he did not care, currently, blood leaked out of his wounds like a waterfall and his vision was beginning to get fuzzy around the edges. Eventually, not even thoughts of Zoe could keep the pain back for long. Now that he was feeling the full extent of the pain, it was hard for him just to keep quiet and not move. All his concentration was spent on trying to hold back the pain; he was so engulfed in his wounds that he almost missed Zoe's voice through the phone.
"Matt, you there?" she asked.
Matt brought the phone to his ear one more time. "Yes."
"Do you still have that smokescreen?" Her voice sounded scared and almost strained.
"Yes." He had no clue as to what she was planning.
"Does it have any shots left?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" Where was she going with this?
"Use it," was all she said.
"What?"
"Use it," she repeated. "They're going to check if you're still alive, use it quick."
"Wait, how will that-?"
"Just trust me, Matt! Now use the Goddamn smokescreen!"
Concluding that she had some sort of plan, he hung up the phone and grabbed his smoke gun. Here we go again, he thought bitterly. No sooner had he grabbed the gun, did he see the sunglasses-covered face of one of Takada's body guards. Ignoring the overwhelming pain in his shoulder, he pointed the gun in the man's face and pulled the trigger.
--
Zoe noticed right away when Matt had pulled the trigger. The man who went to check on him had taken a step back from surprise and then not a second later, the intersection was filled with smoke. That was her cue. As soon as she saw the smoke rise up from the red car, she forced her terrified feet to move and she ran towards the place where Matt was trapped. When she arrived, she noticed that the man who had been shot in the face was sprawled on the asphalt, blood oozing out of his forehead. He'll live, but he'll have one nasty scar for the rest of his life.
Quickly, she shoved the bullet-shredded door open as far as it would go and looked in to see the smiling face of Matt.
"Was that what you had planned?" he asked shrewdly. Zoe rolled her eyes and ignored him; she grabbed his good arm and pulled him out of the car, put her arm around his waist to support him and his arm over her shoulder and hobbled off away from the intersection. Thanks to the smokescreen, everyone who had been watching were too busy coughing and covering their eyes to notice the two sneaking away from the scene.
Out of the intersection and into a nearby parking garage elevator, they hobbled. Once inside, Zoe pressed the button labeled "4" and the doors closed almost immediately. Matt winced when the pressure of the floor moving up pushed against his torn-up foot. When the number above the door turned into a four, the doors slid open with a small ding and Zoe helped Matt out towards her blue Mustang.
"You brought your car?" Matt stated more to himself than her.
"Yes, I did. I switched colleges for one semester and my parents insisted that I bring my car."
Matt did a small attempt at a shrug but flinched from pain when the bullets in his shoulder rubbed against his bones.
Unlocking the car with her remote, Zoe opened the back door and laid Matt down in the back seat. She crawled in after him and shut the door. "What are you doing?" Matt asked her, a bit perturbed.
Zoe began digging around the floor in search of something. "We can't take you to a hospital, they'll discover that you had a hand in Takada's kidnapping right away and have you arrested or killed. My friend is studying to be a nurse; she could fix you up pretty well. Don't worry," she added when she saw his worried expression. "She's really smart and good at what she does; she'll fix you up good as new. However; there is one problem, she's a major Kira follower and probably saw you on television like I did."
"But then that's no different than taking me to a hospital," Matt argued.
"Wrong, Keiko's more of a ditz than anything, if we change your appearance a bit, she wouldn't be able to recognize you to save her life." Her hand fished around under the seat for a bit until she found what she was looking for. "Aha! Here's an extra T-shirt you can wear after we get rid of your regular clothes." Matt gave her a "where-did-you-get-that" look and she just shrugged. "I had a few boyfriends between when I first met you and now and one of them had a habit of changing in my car and leaving his clothes behind. I just never got around to giving them back, now, back to you." She examined him for a few seconds before reaching for his face saying, "The goggles need to go." She yanked them off his head and threw them in the front seat.
"Hey!" Matt cried trying to grab them back.
Zoe laid a hand on his arm. "Don't worry; they will stay in my car until you are able to move again." Sighing, he gave in and let her strip him down; devoid of anything but his pants and boots. She continued with her work muttering things like, "That needs to go," or "Shirt, gone." She was careful not to cause too much pain when she removed his shirt and once it was gone, she looked at him and realized just how close her face was to his. She could feel her face grow a bit heated but tried to ignore it as Matt moved his face closer and closer to hers until he had contacted his lips to hers for a span of only a few seconds.
--
It was rather odd having Zoe undress him like she did. He felt a blush creep up on his cheeks but it seemed like she did not notice because she was too intent in her work. When she carefully pulled off his stripped shirt, he unconsciously moved his head closer to hers. This time it was her turn to blush. He noticed it right away and upon seeing it, could not hold himself back any longer. His pent-up emotions were running like mad and he could not control his body motions as he leaned in closer to her, suddenly pressing his lips to hers for a few short seconds.
When he pulled away, he suddenly felt more embarrassed than he had ever felt in his life. Why did I just do that? His mind could not figure out his feelings towards Zoe but apparently his body could. He looked at her, his face not giving away any hint of his confusion, and saw that she was surprised and majorly embarrassed. Immediately, he tried to apologize.
"I am so sorry, Zoe!" he stammered out. "I don't know what came over me. Please, forget about it."
"No," she said with no emotion. Matt stared at her, obvious confusion on his face. "No need to apologize." She grabbed his face and moved in closer eventually locking her lips to his. He opened his eyes wide, shocked that she had actually complied with what he did before. He eventually accepted what she was doing as reality and closed his eyes, wrapping his good arm around her back and pulling her closer. He could not believe what was happening. It was not because it was his first kiss, no, he had many kisses before her, but he was in disbelief because he never expected to actually be able to kiss someone he thought he would never see again.
Soon, Zoe had slipped her tongue into Matt's mouth and he complied by doing the same with her. Eventually, Matt had broken away from their kiss and moved down to butterfly kiss her neck. She rested her head on his good shoulder and allowed him to remove her leather jacket and kiss further down her neck to her shoulder. After several seconds, she took his chin in her hand and pulled his face back up so his lips could meet hers once more. A few minutes later, it seemed that Zoe had completely forgotten about his wounds and began to get slightly rougher. Her left hand came up and grabbed his right shoulder, the one filled with bullets, and squeezed ever-so-slightly, making him squirm and pull back.
"I'm sorry!" she cried after he had grabbed his shoulder with his good hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I guess I kind of got carried away."
Matt shook his head. "No, it's alright. I understand. Just try to be a bit more careful, okay?" Zoe nodded and took the shirt that had lain, forgotten, on the floor a moment beforehand and slipped it over Matt's head. She took out a knife and made a few holes in the fabric then smeared some of his blood around it to make it look believable.
"There, now let's get you over to Keiko's before you bleed to death." It was said more as a joke, and he knew it, but something in what she said had a small ring of truth in it and that worried Matt.
"As fast as you can, preferably," he suggested as she crawled into the driver's seat and turned the car on. She only nodded as she backed out of the parking space and drove out of the building.
--
Once Zoe had pulled into her friend's driveway, she turned the car off and carefully pulled Matt out of the back seat. With his arm around her shoulder and hers around his waist, he was able to make it to the front door, wait for Zoe to find the right key, unlock the door, and let them step inside. She set Matt down on the couch, then went to wake up Keiko. Keiko protested at first but when Zoe mentioned that she had a friend that needed her "expertise" she hopped out of bed and marched out of the room to the living room.
When Keiko laid eyes on Matt, she smirked and turned to Zoe, who was glad Matt looked so different without his goggles. "I guess your little love session got a bit out of hand, didn't it?"
Zoe crossed her arms and glared at her friend and housemate. "We didn't have a 'love session,' Keiko, I found him in an alley on my way home, now fix him!" It sounded like she was referring to a toy rather than a man.
"Sure thing, kiddo," the twenty-one-year-old nurse said, helping Matt stand on his one good foot. "Where shall I put him?"
Zoe pointed down the hall in which she had just come from. "He can sleep in my room, I'll use the couch."
"Alrighty!" She and Matt wobbled down the hall and turned into a room two doors past Keiko's room. "Zoe, I'll be needing your help, though." She then entered the room and Zoe followed. Keiko carefully laid Matt down on Zoe's bed and took the shirt that Zoe had given him off and examined his wounds. "Not too shabby. Each bullet missed your bones by a mere millimeter. You are one lucky bastard." Keiko turned and looked back at the young American standing behind her. "Though with Zoe, you'd have to be."
Zoe rolled her eyes, sometimes Keiko really bugged her. This was one of those times. "Take a look at his foot as well."
Keiko looked down and just noticed how mangled Matt's foot was. "Damn, boy! What happened to you?" Neither Matt nor Zoe answered Keiko's question. Neither wanted to or had a valid excuse for what happened to him. "Zoe, c'mere." The American college student ran to her friend's side almost immediately.
"What do you need?" she asked.
Keiko handed her a wad of cloth. "I need you to stop the bleeding after I pull the bullets out, can you do that?"
Zoe nodded. "Yeah, I can do it." Upon hearing her answer, Keiko set to work. Matt ended up gripping Zoe's hand while the bullets were pulled out. He squeezed harder when Keiko began digging around, trying to find each bullet and remove it before the area became infected. When they had worked their way down to his foot, he almost screamed when Zoe and Keiko pulled his boot off. By the time they were ready to snap each of his bones back into place, Zoe gave him one of her pillows for him to bite on to keep himself from yelling in pain. The cracks and snaps were bad enough, she did not want his yelling mixed in there as well.
By the time they were done, every bullet they had removed was in an empty coffee container and Matt looked like a war victim with his foot in a cast and the gauze bandage wrapped around his torso. The glass was successfully pulled out of his face and the bleeding had stopped. Zoe was tossing the bloody cloth and washing her hands when she looked back at the poor nineteen-year-old lying helpless on her bed. "Holy crap, Matt, you bleed a lot." Keiko had left the room and had gone back to bed and left they two to be "alone," as she had put it.
"Well, what do you expect from someone who was shot more times than he can count?"
Zoe dried her hands on the towel she had brought with her from the bathroom. "Good point." She walked up next to the bed and smiled down at him. "I guess it was a good thing I took the opportunity to come out here for school, huh?" Matt smiled.
"I guess it was."
"Well, I'm exhausted." She leaned down and gave him a short peck on the lips. "Good night, Matt."
"Good night, Zoe." He paused until she reached the door. "I love you," he whispered. She smiled and left the room.
"I love you, too, Matt."
A/N: Yeah, this is why it is AU-ish, just in case you didn't know. Anyway, I couldn't think of another way to end this so you'll just have to take what you get and live with it. I'm sorry! Matt's just too cool to kill off! I had to! Next chapter is going to be reeeaaally long, practically twice as long as this one, so prepare for that.
Review! If not, I will hunt you down, watch you for an indeffinate period of time, then sneak into your room and strangle you in your sleep. Don't think I won't! (I probably just made you paranoid, didn't I? I have a habit of doing that to a lot of people.) Or I could just break you neck, either way is fine by me.