-1After Miko had effectively banished all the evil cooties from her body with her 'ever-so-mighty' soap, she began to change back into her normal attire…that was until she remembered that she didn't have normal attire anymore; the orphanage had given her a long-sleeved cotton shirt, with a matching pleated skirt. Both the shirt and the skirt were solid indigo, with green accents. She slipped on the outfit and added white tennis shoes. Miko ran a comb though her short, black hair and decided to leave it at that in the area of morning rituals. Slowly, the girl stuck her head out of the bathroom door. She was surprised to find L on his bed doing…nothing.
He was sitting on his bed, with his legs crossed, and eyes shut. Miko crept forward, keeping her eyes trained on the strange boy as if he would explode. When she was close to his bed she shouted "What are you doing?!"
L twitched. "Mediating. I can hear you. You don't need to shout..."
Miko stepped closer cautiously. "Stop doing that." She poked his knee. "It's creepy…not like murderer-creepy…like zombie-creepy…or like…MOOSE-CREEPY!"
He opened both eyes in order to stare at her, something that proved harder than he thought since he was facing the other direction. "Are you insane?" He unfolded his legs and tossed himself off the bed "Never mind. Don't answer that. Let's just go to class, alright?"
Miko frowned. "Fine, but I'm not coming within five feet of you and your...pervert-ness."
L felt the laughter boiling up in his throat. Miko was glaring wide eyed at him, waving her arms in the air spasmodically. He threw a hand over his mouth in a futile attempt to stop his laughter, but a few chuckles still squeezed their way through his fingers.
Miko glared at the space in front of her, walking ahead of L in order to open the door. She swung the door open, making the poor door swing on its hinges. She promptly walked off and exited the building. Then she heard Ls voice behind her, still laced with amusement.
"The classroom is this way."
She stopped before quickly turning around, and marching off in the direction of L's voice. This time around, Miko followed L so that she could avoid any other misdirection. Despite L's lead, she still maintained her five feet rule. He led her to the edge of the campus where a small building sat. L walked inside and Miko walked in tentatively after him. The room was bare except for a long table in the middle filled with sniveling children and an estranged teacher at the board. The teacher was obviously way in over his head judging from the terrified look on his face. He apparently went by the name of Mr. Beaver. As soon as Miko got her bearings, she began acting coolly again. She sat down at the opposite end of the table, far away from 'Mr. Creepy-Pervert-Man'.
L seemed content with sitting down, ignoring everyone else, and completing the puzzle that functioned as the class assignment. Miko narrowed her eyes at him. The small girl looked down at her own puzzle with a huff. This piece goes with that piece, and that one with that one. When she had reached the 300th piece of the puzzle, she glanced over at L; L had completed his entire puzzle, and was now taking it apart. The other kids had only a small portion of their puzzles finished.
Miko stared at her puzzle again with renewed determination, glaring at it with enough force to light a small fire. She looked up at L who was, once again, calmly putting his puzzle together again. She made a small, frustrated sound. Miko contemplated whether or not to give up on the frustrating puzzle all together in favor of talking to L. Not that she wanted to talk to him. Of course she didn't. That would be stupid. Why would the child even want to go near him?
Nonetheless, her feet disobeyed her mind and she found herself walking towards the pervert, who had assembled and dissembled the puzzle so many times that she had lost track.
"I've decided on something." Miko raised her pointer finger in the air, trying to give herself a look of importance. L turned his head in her direction, hiding his surprise. He was so consumed with the tedious puzzle exercise that he didn't notice the girl's arrival.
"And what would that be?" He fought to keep his tone even. She looked so absolutely ridiculous, trying to look very official. She looked more like a Cat in the Hat character. The unnecessarily closed eyes didn't make the image appear any better.
"You're not a pervert..." she cracked opened one eye to look at L. "…at the moment." Then Miko opened of both her eyes and clapped her hands together. "Therefore, I shall help you with your puzzle." Miko sat down in the chair next to L, getting so close to the puzzle that her hair dragged against it. "You seem to be having some trouble with it..." she murmured.
The boy glanced at Miko's half finished puzzle across the table. "I'm not having any-"
"Of course you are." She interjected, waving him off. "Don't be ridiculous."
L bit back a smile. He must have some kind of disease; two years of learning to keep his emotions in check by a trained professional, lost in two days, by a girl he hardly knew. Most humans were easy to read, lazy, stupid, and annoying. Miko was bold, funny, and excitable.
It took him a minute to realize that she was staring at him, possibly worrying for his mental health. "What?" came the delayed response.
Her yellow-green eyes narrowed in annoyance. "You're holding a piece in your hand." She stuck out one little hand, pouting. "Gimme."
He couldn't resist the small smile that had wormed its way onto his face. L handed her the piece with a soft, "Here."
Miko immediately perked up, holding the piece carefully, as if it were the key to the universe. Slowly, with much concentration, she fitted the last piece into the puzzle. She threw her arms up over her head and hummed a fanfare triumphantly. Eventually, Miko's arms fell lamely beside her. She pouted angrily at the puzzle. "Yours was easier."
L stared at her "We all had the same puzzle."
She folded her arms tightly. "Yours was still easier."
The boy rolled his eyes. Then, he heard the teacher speak in his horrible squeaky, hamster like voice, "It's time for lunch."
Apparently everyone knew where the lunchroom was except for Miko, because every kid in the classroom had started to scream loudly while scrambling out of the classroom. Miko s eyes widened dramatically at the oncoming stampede of hungry children. It would have been quite comical if not for the dire situation. She instinctively grabbed on to L's shirt and held on for dear life, hiding her face in the center of his chest.
L gaped down at her in surprise. His head snapped up as a loud crash reminded him that he was about to be demolished by his fellow classmates. He grabbed onto Miko's shirt and dove under the table. The table proved to be efficient in protecting them from the ravenous children. When the pitter-patter of blood thirsty feet wore off, the boy peaked his head out from under the table. "They have all gathered to feed…like suckerfish." He shuddered lightly. L looked carefully at the girl lying under the table. "We're safe."
Miko wormed her way out from under the table. Ignoring everything that L had said, she grabbed his wrist and ran off, top speed, in the direction of the mob of kids. "Food!" She made a small, happy noise. The girl stopped running when she ran into a particularly tall and scary kid. She spun around, glaring softly at L "Stay here," she ordered to the wide eyed boy. Miko sunk to her knees, and slipped between the legs of the scary student. Miko weaved her way in and out of various pairs of legs for what seemed like hours. In reality, it was only minutes.
Meanwhile L waited outside, hyperventilating, as he pictured a thousand different scenarios of how this could possible kill Miko.
Inside, Miko's hard work had paid off as her head hit something that the bruise on her head identified as a counter. Feeling her way up, Miko's eyes reached just over the top, as she grabbed the first two food items that she could see. That's when she found a major flaw in her plan; she couldn't crawl back on her hands and knees if her hands were occupied. Something hard kneed her in the spine as if to emphasize her point. She winced against the pain, and looked around wildly.
In one corner, only 15 feet away, was a fire exit. If she could make it over there, she would be home free. Miko got down on her knees, and balanced herself on her forearms. She shimmied her way through several pairs of legs while keeping the food as steady as she possible. A person suddenly appeared in front of her. Miko dove though the legs, head first, rolling in a ball towards the door. Using her head as a fulcrum, Miko flipped up her legs, balanced herself on her head, and hit her foot on the bar that opened the fire exit door. Unfortunately, her luck with spy movie moves ended with a loud scream as she toppled out the door, landing stomach down on the grass.
Miko opened her eyes to see a pair of bare feet in front of her face. She looked up, confused, to see L's face looking down at her in amusement.
"Nice moves. You should be a cop."
Miko was aghast. "You saw me and didn't even bother to help me?!"
The boy shrugged while taking one of the sundaes out of Miko's hand. "You seemed to have it under control."
The girl noticed that the food she had grabbed off the counter happened to be two strawberry sundaes.
Wait, wait.
She had to get back on topic. "All that was luck! I could have died!"
L turned away, holding the glass with the very tips of his fingers. "I wouldn't have let you get hurt." He added a soft "stupid," to the end of his statement.
She watched and tried to banish the warm feeling that statement gave her (despite the insult tacked onto the end). Miko pushed herself up to sitting position with her forearms, tossing herself over, so that she could follow the stupid traitor to where ever it was he was going.
L dipped his finger into the dessert, licking it off his finger. What was this amazing taste?! Why, he had never taste anything like it before! "What is this?!" L practically screamed at Miko.
She was momentarily paralyzed in confusion. "It's a Strawberry Sundae. People eat them."
L dipped another finger into the glass before popping it back into his mouth. "This is… delicious." His voice was slightly muffled from the sugar coated finger he refused to remove from his mouth. "I am going to only eat this every single day of my life."
Miko, who had been giving him the what-the-hell-is-going-on look, began laughing. "You've never had sugar before?"
L shook his head furiously. "In training, I could only eat healthy foods so I could perform faster." He had decided on drinking the sundae, instead of using his finger. It made the task much easier.
Miko laughed again as she watched the first traces of real emotion appear in L's face.
In his office, Watari watched gravely as all the training, all the work that he had done on the boy, became undone, and none too slowly.
This little girl would be the end of his Lawliet, the end of his career and the great deed that he could have done for the world. This girl, this Miko, was his own personal hell sent from the devil himself. Nothing else could make him feel so conflicted between L's happiness and L's future. He supposed he would have to wait and see how it all played out. He watched the rest of the day from his cameras, up until the pair entered their cabin. Before they entered, he saw Miko yawn.
"I'm really tired," she complained, stretching over her bed like a cat.
L groaned. He was going to kill her if she said that one more time. "Then go to sleep," he said, probably a little too roughly.
Miko stayed silent for a moment. She slid off the bed, the old mattress creaking under the removal of the weight. Timidly, she snuck up in front of L.
He had his eyes closed and was lying on his side, limbs splayed out in front of him. As silently as she could manage, she slipped herself in between L's arms. Miko snuggled into his warm body as his arms wrapped around her stomach. L tensed up for a minute.
Why would she...?
He forced himself to relax so that she wouldn't leave. L cuddled her closer and drifted into a deep sleep.