Click-click-click-click…
For a change, the sound was not that of fingers hitting the keyboard. This was a tiny bottle. A tiny bottle that Raito was shaking repeatedly.
She had only been shaking the bottle for a few seconds, and L already found it extremely annoying. Typing-sounds she could handle, as well as Matsuda's and Misa's blathering, but this… She nearly slammed her fingers on the keys. "Raito-chan," she said in an even tone, trying to hold in her slight anger. "Would you kindly stop that incessant noise?"
"I'm done anyways," said the younger girl, raising an eyebrow at her. "See?" And she held the tiny, circular bottle for L to see. "It's just nail polish," she said, sounding a bit miffed. "I just need to shake it before I apply it, is all."
"We're in the middle of something and you're putting on nail polish?" L groaned, glaring at Raito from underneath dark bangs. "May I ask why?"
Raito stared at the detective a little bit, then turned away, uncapping the bottle. "I just want to. It's fun. Remember?"
"Remember what?"
"Putting on nail polish," Raito said, as if it were obvious. She lifted up her foot to take off her shoe and sock, then rested her foot on the edge of the table, stretching her toes.
"You're putting it on your toes?" L cried in disbelief, her already-wide eyes even wider. She watched as Raito tapped the little brush against the rim of the bottle's neck, and slowly applied a thin, even coat to the nail of her big toe.
"Why not?"
"Nobody's going to see it, Raito-chan," L said in a patronizing tone. "It makes no sense to do that."
Raito paused, before shrugging and moving the brush back to the bottle, dipping it in and removing it, moving on to the next toe. "It doesn't matter if no one sees or not. It's just something to do for fun…or a way for girls to bond, you know."
They sat in silence for a while, L staring at Raito's toes strangely. She watched as the natural color of the nails was slowly obscured by pale pink. "I do not understand," she said at last.
Raito, her toenails completely painted, turned to look at the older woman. L had turned away, so Raito could only see her profile, dark bangs obscuring most of her face. "Understand…what? What's there to understand?" she asked, screwing the cap back onto the bottle.
L spoke quietly, sounding a bit hesitant. "I've never…painted my nails."
"Never?"
"There's no point in it at all, really," she said calmly. Then she nearly fell out of her chair as it was turned forcibly around, and met with Raito's indignant stare. She blinked, a little bit nervous. "Raito-chan?"
The younger girl's face was set in a mask of determination. "You're saying…" she said. "That you've never painted your nails. Not even once? Not even as a young girl?"
"That's what I'm saying," L said.
"Give me your foot."
"Huh?" Before she could protest, L found her left foot in the vice-like grip of the younger, brown-haired girl's hands. "H-Hey…"
Raito removed one hand from her foot to rummage around in the tiny purse that sat on the table in front of her. "I know I've got another bottle in here somewhere," she was muttering. L glared at the purse. It had seemed so innocent earlier, but now…It was sitting there like a smug little…purse-bastard. "A-ha!" Raito finally cried, withdrawing another bottle of color. "This'll work nicely on you," she added as she started to shake it.
L stared nervously at the crimson blur in Raito's hand. "R-Raito-chan…"
"I don't think pink would really work on you, do you?" Raito said calmly, as if she weren't doing this against the detective's will, as if they were two girls at a sleep-over; as if they were the best of friends. "Red would look better on you, trust me."
"I don't have any say in this, do I?"
"None."
"Hm. Ninety percent…" The older woman turned her head away as she saw Raito unscrew the cap (with some difficulty. It wasn't easy to do that one-handed) and move the brush toward her toes. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.
"You've been missing out on what I like to call 'a girl experience,'" Raito said, painting the crimson color onto the bigger nails. "You wear no make-up-"
"You don't
either."
"I wear some, just not as much as Misa…You
don't seem to do anything with your hair either…"
L unconsciously fingered a lock of her hair. It was quite long, and reminded some of a certain ghost in a horror film. Especially since she just let it hang there. Raito was correct; she never so much as pulled it back into a ponytail.
"…So the least we can do is paint your toenails," Raito finished, dipping the brush back in and moving back to finish painting. "I think you'll like it, Ryuu-chan…You know, if you took better care of yourself, you'd look very beautiful."
"If Raito-chan says so…" L sighed, feeling powerless and a bit awkward. She moved her head back to watch Raito apply the color. It was quite interesting, actually, watching the pale pink become blood-red. "Hm."
"I don't get it, Ryuu-chan," Raito sighed as she finished up. "Your toenails are trimmed neatly, as are your fingernails, but –Hold still, I'm going to help them dry-you don't see to want to do anything else to yourself." She held L's right foot in both hands and gently blew puffs of air onto the toenails.
L's toes curled in reaction to the coldness of the girl's breath. "Is this really necessary?"
"A little. I don't want the paint to smear all over your skin."
"No, not that. The painting."
"No, it's not. Not in any big sense. But in a way…" She suddenly stopped, tilting her head up to smile at L. "In a way, you've just gone through a sort of 'rite-of-passage.' Congratulations."
L sighed as Raito removed herself and dropped the bottle back into the purse. She lifted a foot to stare at her toenails, wiggling her toes and eyeing them suspiciously. "My toes look like they're bleeding," she said in a tone of someone suffering torture.
"Don't be silly," Raito said dismissively. "They look beautiful."
At that moment, the door opened and the rest of the task-force entered the room. Matsuda was the first to notice the detective's toes. "Whoa!" he cried. "What happened to your toes? Are they bleeding?"
L shot Raito a look as if to say Told you so but shook her head. "No. Raito-chan here was just painting them. They look strange, don't they?"
"N-No, not really!" Matsuda laughed, placing one hand behind his head. "They just kinda startled me, but they look really beautiful, Ryuu-chan!"
"Precisely what I told her. But she wouldn't listen," Raito said.
L glared at her for an instant before glancing down at her toes, wiggling them slightly. "Don't be silly…They look beautiful…You know, if you took better care of yourself, you'd look very beautiful."
"Hmmm…"
-oOo-
"Hold still. I'm actually pretty good at this." The older woman took the younger girl's foot between her hands. She was reminded suddenly of the time, a few days ago, when Raito had done the same thing. Except Raito had been painting the woman's nails, not giving her a foot massage.
Raito pressed the towel to L's hair. "You're going to get even more soaked," she intoned. "Since you have all that wet hair over your shoulders and going down your back."
L nodded. "Thank you, Raito-chan."
How different their tones were now, than they were a few days ago. And perhaps they had been happier too.
Later, L got a call on her cell phone. "Come on, Raito-chan," she said, standing up. "Watari wants us down there."
"Sure, okay…"
As they walked down
the hallway, L turned to look at Raito again. "By the way…I
noticed the nail color was gone."
"Y-Yeah…I decided I don't
like it on me anymore. I removed it."
"…I see."
Was it Raito's imagination, or did L sound a bit…sad? Glancing down, her eyes widened slightly at what she saw, and she could suddenly see a brief image of the two of them: Raito painting the older woman's toenails, telling her how lovely she could be, L not quite believing her…And she sensed a bit of the warmth that was there that night, just sitting there and doing something idle…
L's toenails were still a vivid shade of red. Red as an apple. Red as blood.
I got inspired as I was painting my own nails one day and remembering my grandmother painting toenails with me. ("This is something every girl should do once in a while," she had said.) I wanted to make this seem kind of bittersweet, and I hope I succeeded.
And this is kinda off-topic, but whenever I imagine L as a girl, I imagine her with Sadako-hair (obviously) and sounding like Sakaki from Azumanga Daoih.