Two years had passed nearly aimlessly for Light since his families last trip to England. Once this summer ended he would be a senior in high-school and then he would most likely attend college classes at the high-standard To-Oh University. His father had bragged to nearly everyone about how his son had already been asked by the dean to attend the university. Of course, it wasn't just To-Oh . Countless other prestigious institutions had requested for the youth to attend their college.
Unlike his father, who currently was basking in the achievements of his prodigy, Light felt indifferent toward the attention he had received lately. His unattached feelings for the loft praise continued even as the flight attendants swarmed around him excitedly asking him " Are you hungry?", " Would you like a pillow?" and his favorite " Would you care to pick your poison?" Light had to laugh at such a phrase until the woman bent awfully close to him with a tray of alcoholic beverages. Light shook his head and feigned an apologetic frown. He was underage, how dare she offer him a drink. The woman's eyes cut towards Soichiro and Sachiko, who were far to the front of Light.
" Hmm, well I won't tell if you would like one." she states casually.
" No, thanks" Light asserts and pushes the tray away from him.
" Ah, suit yourself." she says flippantly and approaches his mother and father to offer them the drinks.
Light soon managed to drift off to sleep and was only awoken by the unsettled landing of the plane. There were there in England it had been two years since their last visit and Light had truly missed the mansion's library. Last summer stay he had accomplish his goal to read all four hundred books of interest. Yes, such a task had taken him seven years, or rather , three entire summers. Yet, now he had an unpleasant sensation of boredom fill his mind and he contemplated the ensuing days to come. He no longer had anything to read in his families library, so what would he do? He could play tennis on the tennis court his father had, had added just for him a few years ago. Of course, such a thing seemed pointless if there weren't any decent competitors. He could go swimming in the mansion's indoor pool, but that didn't seem particularly interesting. He could study….no….that could wait until school started again. After all he didn't want to be too smart.
As the day dwindled Light found himself wandering the streets , which were crammed with various assortments of cafes, boutiques, and trinket shops. As he gazed dazedly about at the people rushing by in their day to day chores. Yet, Light felt there was something amiss. Sure, the stores were quaint, the aromas pouring from the restaurants were alluring, the green foliage and blooming flowers were dazzling , but it all felt empty. He knew the feeling must have been induced from a bit of loneliness. There was always someone to talk to at home and at school. Yet, as he ambled the streets filled with stranger's faces there was nothing more to console him than his endless thoughts.
A plain, red-bricked building popped into Light's peripheral vision. The teenager turned to view the homely edifice. Its aged appearance testified it was from an earlier period than all establishments previously sighted. As Light's honey-brown eyes continued t sweep over the building his eyes saw a plastic sign just above a beaten wooden door and upon it there was one word: Library. That one word was all it had taken to captivate the teens interest.
As Light entered the building he was automatically hit with the scent of musty books and his eyes were greeted to the sight of an expansive room nearly filled with wooden shelves of various assortments of books. As Light shuffled inward he noticed that there was a a haughty looking woman situated at a small desk placed between the division of fiction and non-fiction. Light headed in the direction of non-fiction and looked for the sub-heading ' Law'. It wasn't long before the youth spotted the titled section and proceeded to find himself between two crammed shelves. As Light scanned the titles he noticed that he had actually read most of the selections, but there were a few unfamiliar ones.
As the teen grabbed a rather sizable hardback, he moved to backup and then bumped into someone. Light spun around to apologize, but to his horror he lost his balance and fell face first on top of the other individual. Light heard a pained "oomph!" as the other person impacted with the ground and was crushed beneath his weight. Light looked down into the eyes of other person and found himself lost in a pair of endless black orb, which were caught beneath a mess of feathered-ebony locks. The opalescent eyes gazed at him unfazed, but the pair of pastel lips which trembled too close to Light's didn't seem quite as impassive. Light felt something unknown stir in his stomach and he scrambled to remove himself from atop the other person, who was a small, unnaturally pale boy.
" I-I'm terribly sorry." Light muttered sincerely.
The kid moved to sit on his bum and eyed Light emotionlessly.
" Its fine." the boy mumbled as he cast his eyes to the side and began to get up. Light offered his hand to the child and was assisting the little raven when something flickered inside his mind. This boy seemed oddly familiar, but Light just couldn't place him. So Light leaned his face forward to scrutinize the almost outlandish features of the boy, who was now placed in an odd position. His knees slightly out-bent , his head dipped uncomfortably backwards as Light leaned in to stare and his arm pulled forward with fingers interlaced with the handsome teens. The teen's free hand still held the book he had picked out.
" D-Don't I know you?" Light asked uncertainly.
Suddenly, the boys stoic face was enraptured in emotion. His cheeks became captured in a pink blush, his pale lips trembled and his eyes cast their vision to the side demurely.
" I-I…" the boy stuttered and it was then that Light realized how inappropriate his contact with the other had become and he automatically let go of the child's hand. Of course such and action had truly been thoughtless, since the boys weight had been stabilized more by Light's uplifting arm than the boys feet. So, the boy's bottom hit the ground with a large thud and a pained wince filled those frail features.
" Oh! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Light repeated feeling thoroughly embarrassed with himself.
" Its fine." the boy stated calmly as he rose from his feet and dusted his baggy denim pants. Light noticed a book even larger than the one he was holding disregarded on the floor, so the teen bent over and gathered it atop of the one he already held. As Light drew back up to his normal stature, the now standing boy peered at Light intensely.
" I was going to check that out." the child stated as he pointed at the book Light had just removed from the floor. The teen looked at the child disbelievingly.
" This?" Light inquired as he held up the book. The boy simply nodded.
" Do you understand this book?" Light asked slightly belittlingly.
" Indeed, its a book that states several different popular opinions of justice and methodically discredits all such thesis's as invalid or too 'utopian'. It also summarizes the flaws and faults in our current government." the boy stated placidly. Light eyed the boy scrupulously.
" Well, in that case, here you go." Light said as he gave the boy the book. "but if you check out this book you should read the second volume. The author speaks further of justice and why such a thing is nearly inconceivable in today's downtrodden society ." Light commented further.
" Sounds interesting." the boy added as the he began to browse the shelves until he located the book that Light had just mentioned and placed it on top of the first one.
………………………………...
The little boy peered curiously at the handsome teenager, who now preceded him in the check out line. This interesting fellow seemed extremely familiar to him. His onyx eyes analyzed the tall, toned, auburn haired teenager . The other's amber eyes were sharp and knowing but there was also a comforting softness to them. The boy felt a fraction of contentment towards the other male, but was bothered by the illogical equivalent of fondness for a stranger.
Suddenly an image came to mind of a swing-set and countless children playing happily in a quaint park. All of them content without him, all of them content to ignore him, and all of them occasionally shooting him dirty looks as they laughed at some unheard joke. The boy couldn't comprehend this, really, what was so funny? He had started to cry on the inside, was he really that strange? Was he that ugly, that it was funny?
Of course none of this showed on the outside. No, he couldn't let them all see how deeply they had hurt him. If he did then they would laugh even more. People were so cruel…children were often the cruelest. The only thing worse, was criminals. One day he would stop criminals and their abominations to the law. One day he would become an excellent detective who preserved justice. One day the world would know him as 'L', but today wasn't such a day. Neither was the day he remembered in the park, but that day had meant something. The poor child tried to recollect his thoughts, but as he did so the teenager in front of him turned around and smiled warmly.
That's when he remember! It was those same amber eyes, that same charming smile ,and those same silky auburn tresses that had come to his rescue that day in the park. This was his play-mate from two years ago! This was his hero, who had been kind to him, when all those other children had shunned him and labeled him with unpleasant adjectives like 'weird', 'ugly', 'stupid, and 'scary.' Suddenly the boy, also, remembered that his play-mate had betrayed him to. The teen had agreed to play with him again, but after an entire year of no-shows the boy had given up and stopped going to the park altogether.
" Hey, kid, its your turn." the teen said as he broke the child's depressing train of thought. The boy moved forward, almost shyly, and rose on his tip-toes to place the book on the librarians counter. The graying lady looked at him through her large glasses placed on the tip of her nose.
"Oh, its you again, sweetie! Tell your grandfather I said 'hello'." the woman said and to Light's surprise seemed uncharacteristically cheerful.
The boy simply nodded his head. Watari wasn't his grandfather, not that she would understand or even needed to know. The librarian then handed the boy book and moved on to the next person in line.
Light lingered quietly behind the boy and waited for him to say something, but the child just kept staring at him with interest. Finally Light grew tired of the silence.
" What is it?" Light asked.
" Why didn't you come back?" the child asked with a twinge of sorrow in his large, black orbs.
" What are you talking about?" Light inquired calmly. The boy didn't open his mouth to speak , but instead began to cast a sour look at his toes, which Light suddenly noticed were bare.
The boy felt something similar to hope shatter inside himself. His play-mate had completely forgotten him.
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Aw, poor L.
Well That's chapter two. Please leave some reviews and let me know what you think. Also, the more reviews the sooner I update.
Also thank you Zedin, Nusku, rain angst, tiffiny, allakast, black.is.the.new.blood., xkuroxshinobix, whitelilly, Nakuru Kinomoto, Kitsune Eru, for the comments. They were much appreciated!!