Well, so, um, I'm…back? Oh my gosh, please don't throw me into the pit! NOOO!!
At least that's over with! Phew! And is now a good time to beg for my life?
--page break--
Light and Naeko sat in Naeko's bedroom at the end of the day, a bag of chips and two glasses full of soda sitting on her desk.
"What are we going to do about him?" she asked, tapping her pencil against the open hardback in front of her.
"I'm thinking," Light said, closing his own workbook, having just finished the assignment. Or, rather, after copying off of Naeko's. English was a messy language to read, and he didn't want to take the time to look up so many words. Besides, he had other things to worry about, such as this so called "Hideki Ryuuga". Lazily, Light reached over and stole a chip from the bag as he mulled over all of his options.
"He was so upfront about it, too," Naeko said, indignantly. "How do you think he found out?"
"I don't know," Light muttered. There were so many questions that needed answering. It was so frustrating!
"Oh, hey," Naeko suddenly sat up straight in her seat and said, "that's right! Light, he said that the only reason he suspected me of being the Second Kira was because I was hanging around with you in Japan. So, he must have been investigating you. How nice of him," she finished dryly, taking a small sip of her coke.
"I'm sorry," Light said quietly, a hand gently rubbing above his temples to ease the headache that was starting to form. "I dragged you into all of this."
Naeko shot Light a sympathetic look and scooted closer to him, until she was leaning against his shoulder. Light looked down gratefully at her and gave her a peck on the forehead.
"Hehe, did I just walk in on something?" a familiar voice asked, and Naeko and Light both looked up. Ryuk stood next to Naeko's bed, in all his Shinigami glory.
"Where've you been?" Naeko asked. "Didn't you get off the plane with us?"
"Yeah," Ryuk said in his gravelly voice, "but I thought I'd tour the town before settling down."
"That's all nice and well, but we have a major problem!" Naeko hissed. "Somebody by the alias of Hideki Ryuuga knows that Light is the first Kira and I'm the second Kira."
"Hideki Ryuuga, huh? Never heard of him."
"I wonder…" Light said, and Naeko and Ryuk turned to face him, "I wonder if Hideki Ryuuga is really L."
"Would L really risk himself by going out into public?" Naeko asked. It didn't sound like something he would do, although Naeko had only a vague idea of who this "L" person was, anyway.
"Probably not, but L is pretty tricky. I wouldn't put it past him to play a trick like this on us. Light stared at the wall across from him, sorting different facts out in his mind. "But it is a bit coincidental, isn't it? A man who just happens to be stalking us arrives at our school as a new student, approaches you, and tells you the name he is using is an alias. Although, he also told you he is not from Japan, although his name begs to differ. It's all so…"
"Weird?" Naeko offered, and Light nodded.
"Yeah. It couldn't have worked out any more perfectly. So, you said that 4th period is the only period you have with him?"
"Yeah, thank God. I can't stand him. But, I take it that means you don't share any periods with him?"
"Nope. He does a poor job stalking me, doesn't he?" Naeko and Light both laughed, and then Naeko's mom popped her head in the door. She smiled at the sight of the two curled up together, doing their homework.
"Time for bed, you two," she said, and Light went to work placing his mattress on the floor and throwing down a few blankets as Naeko closed up the chips, taking them and the empty glasses down to the kitchen. When she came back up, Naeko slipped into her bed and turned off her lamp, bathing the room in darkness. Moonlight shown in through her window. In the near silence, Naeko could hear Light rustling under his covers, trying to find a comfortable position.
"So what are we going to do?" Naeko asked lightly, making sure her parents couldn't hear her from their bedroom next door.
Light sighed. "I suppose we'll just act normal. I've set up the death note so that criminals will still be dying 4 days from now, so we won't have to use the death note for a while. Just keep telling Hideki that we're not the Kiras. But don't act suspicious."
"Yeah…" Naeko said with a sigh. "You know Light, ever since I got involved with you, my life has been really complicated."
"I'm sorry…"
"Yeah right, like hell you are. But if I get thrown in jail or sentenced to death, I just want you to know that…"
"That you love me?"
"—that I'll be blaming you for my misfortune." Naeko and Light both chuckled, though it was no laughing matter. The possibility of them being caught was still high. They would most definitely have to step carefully from then on.
"Well, I guess things'll happen as they happen," Naeko said with a yawn, and she turned over so that she had her back to Light. "Goodnight, see ya in the morning."
"Goodnight." Light stared up at the ceiling. In just a few minutes he could hear Naeko's breathing even out, and he knew she was asleep.
Dammit! How could I have not known that this Ryuuga guy was stalking me? Or, wait…
Light thought back to when he and Naeko had first devised their plan to be girlfriend and boyfriend. Someone had been watching them, so they had had to act like the perfectly happy couple. Had that guy possibly been from the same organization as Ryuuga?
All this thinking made Light frustrated. Taking a deep breath, Light tried to fight down the urge to jump up, grab the notebook from its hiding place, and write down Hideki Ryuuga's name, alias or not. Seething, Light tried to think of as many ways to kill Ryuuga as he could. Falling off the school's roof. Brain damage from a locker. A hold-up at the school. Death by…paperclips…
Light's lips twitched. Death by paperclips? That was definitely something Naeko would come up with. Lately, she had been in a better mood, and she wasn't as quiet as she was in Japan. Not that she was very quiet there, anyway. Light decided that he liked this new mood much better. Naeko's true humor was finally starting to peek through.
But hey, "Death by paperclips," would sound really good on a tombstone, wouldn't it?
--page break--
Naeko staggered to her locker the next morning, leaning against the cool, painted metal. Her hands fumbled with the combination, swishing to the numbers she knew by heart. Cursing the idiot who made school mandatory for all people under the age of 18, she dumped her books into the small, messy pile on the bottom of her locker and shifted other books to get to the ones she would need for the rest of the morning, until after lunch.
"Mornin', Naeko," Marlie said, giving her friend a quick hug while the teachers weren't looking. "You look awful. Didn't you get any sleep?"
No, Marlie, I didn't get any sleep. I spent the whole night killing criminals and devising ways to get rid of annoying exchange students from who knows where. Oh, and, you know, Kira and I are and the hottest couple you've ever laid eyes on. And you see us just about everyday. Without even knowing it. Yes, your best friend could possibly get thrown in jail or sent to the gallows because she's Kira's girlfriend. Oh, and she used the death note to kill random people. Ain't that just the funniest thing you ever did hear?
Naeko shook her head, dispelling the sarcastic thoughts. "Nah, I had a lot of homework, and Light needed help with his, so we ended up staying up most of the night. But, whatever." She tried to grin, but it didn't work very well, and the grim came out as a grimace.
Marlie didn't look convinced. "Don't you usually get your homework done in study hall?" she asked, suspicion written all over her face.
For the first time since meeting her, Naeko honestly wanted to smack Marlie. Her eyes widened. A few hot tears made their way down her cheeks. Marlie saw this and immediately grabbed her friend's arm, murmuring apologies as she led Naeko down through the halls, glaring at anyone who stared at the crying girl. Naeko wanted to wipe her tears away, but one arm held all of her books and Marlie had the other tight in her possession.
"Where are we going?" Naeko asked after a moment of just walking through empty hallways. The late bell had just rung, and they were going to be counted as absent if they didn't hurry. But soon, she could see the door with big red letters on it, and understood.
"Mrs. Kennly, is it alright if Naeko lies down for a bit? I don't think she's feeling well." Marlie pushed Naeko onto a small cot in the corner of the room without waiting for the nurse's approval.
"Sure," Mrs. Kennly, the school's nurse, shouted, from back in the kitchen area of the office. Naeko heard the sound of ice falling into a bowl and clacking against each other, and then the open and shut of a freezer's door. "I'll be right there. Does she need anything special?"
Marlie glanced at Naeko and replied, "Maybe something sweet. She looks a little pale."
"Can do!" Mrs. Kennly said in her most cheerful voice.
Marlie glanced at Naeko again, mouthing the words, "I'm sorry," before turning back towards the door.
"Marlie," Naeko called, and Marlie's head popped back into view, "wait around for a bit and you can get a late pass from Mrs. Kennly, that way they won't count you as late."
Marlie looked a little surprised, but then realized that she could get a late pass, and she nodded her head vigorously, a big grin on a childish face.
"Here you go darlin'," Mrs. Kennly said, appearing from the kitchen with a Hershey's bar and a glass of water in a paper cup. Placing the water on the bedside table and handing the bar to Naeko, Mrs. Kennly looked up at Marlie and sighed. "I suppose you want a note, doncha?" Marlie nodded vigorously, and Kennly beckoned Marlie to follow her into the real office, where she hastily scribbled a note and shooed Marlie out of her office. Addressing Naeko, she said, "If you need anything, just give me a call," before disappearing into her office and shutting the door with a soft thud.
Naeko stared down at the candy bar in her hands. Now what? Her tears were still running down her cheeks, but at a much slower rate. That was the first time Marlie had ever actually been suspicious of Naeko. Even when Naeko had lied about being disappointed or hurt, Marlie had left it alone.
Wiping a solitary tear from her cheek, Naeko shook her head and set a determined aura around her. She was just being silly. By tomorrow, they would both forget any and everything that had occurred in that hallway. She was just being stupid, thinking that her best friend didn't trust her.
"Well, hello there," a friendly voice interrupted Naeko's thoughts. She looked up, right into the face of Ryuuga himself. Mentally scowling, Naeko had to remind herself to act friendly (or at least not completely hostile) to this guy as long as he still thought of her as the second Kira and as Light as the first Kira.
"'Lo," She replied, wondering what he was doing in the nurse's office in the first place. Maybe he was stalking her. That was a creepy thought.
"What are you in here for?"
"I could ask you the same."
Hideki studied her closely. "You've been crying," he said simply. It wasn't a question. Naeko burned at the humiliation of him seeing her tears, but she just shrugged.
"Sometimes things just get a little complicated," Naeko choked out, shamed that her voice cracked at least twice in the span of one tiny sentence. Hideki nodded in an understanding manner, and Naeko looked up into his big black eyes. "You know," she said slowly, "no matter how many times you say you aren't Japanese, I just can't believe it."
"Stop changing the subject," Hideki reprimanded, but Naeko could tell he was joking because one of the corners of his mouth twitched upwards into a half smile. The two of them laughed for a minute, and then Hideki stopped suddenly, pointing to the candy bar on Naeko's lap. "Are you going to eat that?" he asked. Naeko looked at it and shook her head, placing it in his waiting hands.
Happily, the boy beside her started to unwrap the chocolate. "Spill," he said.
"What?" Naeko asked, confused.
"Tell me why you were crying. It'll make you feel better if you tell someone about your problems. And I just so happened to be conveniently placed in the cot next to you. So spill."
Naeko was hesitant at first. She told Hideki about Marlie's mistrust, and Hideki just nodded in that understanding manner he always used, as if he were soaking up every word you said. Then she proceeded to tell him that Light was having trouble with his homework, so she stayed up late each night helping him with it, not that she minded helping him, but when she didn't get much sleep she became very cranky. Which led to problems with friends.
"And the problem comes full cycle," Naeko said with a sigh. In the end, she had poured her heart out to him, and would have told him more if the second period bell hadn't rung, snapping her to attention and erasing the thoughts she was just about to put into spoken words.
Mrs. Kennly took that bell as a signal to resurface from her office and ask Naeko, "Feeling better, dearie?" Naeko nodded. She didn't question the fact that the nurse just nodded in Hideki's direction before handing Naeko a pass, just in case she was late, even though she had all of her books with her.
Naeko was about to walk out of the nurse's door when she felt the eyes on her back. Turning, she flashed Hideki an uncertain smile and said, "See you in 4th period, kay?" Hideki smiled back and nodded, this time to confirm their promise of sorts.
Well, I suppose he's not that bad…
--lunch--
Lunch was quite an awkward time. Marlie and Naeko avoided each other's gaze, and only spoke to break the awkward tension between them. Light noticed that something was off, but because Naeko and Marlie both shook him off whenever he tried to approach the subject, he just let it go, figuring the girls would settle things between themselves.
The school bell never sounded so good to Naeko when it rang, ending lunch. She stood and hurried, pulling Light with her towards their lockers, leading him through the crowd eagerly.
"Naeko," Light whispered when the crowd had finally thinned to where the two could walk side by side, "Don't you have that Hideki Ryuuga guy in your next class?"
Naeko's stomach dropped. "Um, yeah." Heh. It was like a double feature of the same person. Spending time in the nurse's office first period, distracting thoughts during second and third periods, and then an awkward lunch. Then the second viewing of the same show, only this time in a different language with subtitles that made no sense.
"Are you going to go through with our plan?"
"What, plan? You mean ignore him and act innocent?" Naeko's bad mood must have shone through her tone of voice.
Light blinked. "What's with you?" he muttered, moving on to his own locker.
Naeko felt a bit guilty. Dumping her morning books into her locker she got out her evening books. Luckily, the teachers hadn't assigned any homework yet. Odd, for a Thursday. She just hoped they wouldn't pile it on tomorrow.
The sign on Mr. Hawnes' door read Free Period (Study Hall), and Naeko groaned. The subs never really enforced study times, instead letting the students talk among themselves the entire period. And with Hideki Ryuuga as her neighbor-desk-buddy-person, she was sure to have an interesting period. She could just feel the interrogation as it crept upon her.
How fun.
--to be continued--
So, this chapter was a bit shorter than I thought it'd be. Only a little shorter than the last chapter, though.
And I've decided that although the handcuff idea would be hilarious, it'd totally mess up my story. I'll try and slip it in, but you'd probably only get a summary of about 3 weeks, before Light got fed up and refused to play along anymore. But Light and L WILL get some interaction time, because they haven't even met in my story yet.
So, please review! It makes me work harder when I see all those emails. (Really, it does. Have you noticed that the more reviews I get, the faster I update?)