I don't think I've ever realized how much fun it is to watch my mom squish bugs that are on the ceiling. She's really tall, but she still has to stand on chairs and stuff to reach, so she totters a little bit, and looks like a drunk that climbed up onto a counter to dance, and then realized they never learned how to waltz.
Sue me if that doesn't make sense, but don't sue me for writing this fanfic, cause I don't own Death Note.
Oh, and one of my LOVELY reviewers mentioned that they liked the interaction between Naeko and L. Well, I like writing the interaction. All in favor of making this fic a love triangle between Naeko, L, and Light say "Schaudenfreude!" I'll put another reminder down at the bottom of the page, for those who easily forget. Don't forget to vote!
Naeko slid easily into her usual seat. Hideki was already there, books pushed to one side of the desk, and legs up in that odd sitting position of his. If the students weren't already more spaced out than usual, Naeko would have chosen a different seat, but not only would that gather suspicion onto herself, if would put her between two or three very annoying groups of teenagers, where she would be forced to listen to their stupid gossip and possibly -gasp- join in, albeit reluctantly.
"Good evening," Hideki said coolly once she was seated. His black-ringed eyes searched her face, wandered down her body, and then threw themselves onto the materials she had brought with her to class. "Feeling better, I hope?"
"Much," Naeko bit back, and proceeded to open her notebook, flipping through several pages before finding a completely empty one. "You?"
There was no response, so Naeko paused in her quest for a pencil to look up at her neighbor. He was sitting quietly as usual, eyes staring with no hint of shame, but there was no poker face staring. She could openly see his surprise, and had to ask, "What? Did I say something wrong? Am I not allowed to ask how you are fairing on this lovely day? Or is that confidential information that the second Kira suspect isn't allowed to hear?"
"I didn't expect you to ask," Hideki said truthfully.
"It is common courtesy, you know. Besides, you had to have been in the nurse's office for a reason, right?"
"Oh, that?" Hideki let loose a short laugh, louder than a chuckle, but softer than a bark. "Well, I didn't feel the urge to learn so early in the morning, and I was feeling a little dizzy –low blood sugar, you know?- so I went to the nurse and asked if she had something sweet. I have quite the sweet tooth, actually."
"I hope you brush well," Naeko said, snorting softly to herself. Sweets weren't everything, but they were nice once in a while, in her opinion.
"I do," Hideki said cheerfully, flashing her a smile that showed off his perfect pearly whites. Naeko glanced up, and then hurriedly looked back down at her notebook, trying hard to fight back the sudden urge to blush. Seizing her pencil from where it had been laying beside her notebook, Naeko put the tip to the paper and began sketching lines, soft and short lines that she could easily erase.
Hideki leaned over a little (as far as he could in the school's seat, and with his legs taking up most of the room and creating a very good barrier) to look at Naeko's artwork. It really hadn't taken form yet. It just looked like a bunch of tiny lines that overlapped and created some abstract…well, Hideki didn't even really have a word for it.
And if Naeko cared anything about Hideki looking over her shoulder she didn't say anything. It was almost as if she were determined to ignore him. To show him that she was an ordinary girl with a fiery temper, who couldn't draw worth a crap and was most certainly not related to Kira in any way, shape, or form.
But trust Ryuuga to ruin that.
"What are you drawing?" the curious boy asked, his eyes watching the tip of Naeko's pencil as it lifted and pressed back down against the paper continuously, in a large circle. The pencil stopped, and Hideki's eyes wandered back up to Naeko's.
"Um…I don't know?" Naeko refused to make eye contact with Hideki, but she shrugged and tore the paper out of the notebook, handing it to Hideki. "Here you go. From a regular Picasso herself."
Hideki smiled and took the paper. "I'll frame it and hang it in the doorway. But I think you need to sign it first."
Naeko laughed, and then was suddenly still. She adopted a hateful gaze, glaring at the paper in Hideki's outstretched hand. "Ew, that would require moving, which requires work. And after all the hard work I put into that masterpiece, too!" Hideki and Naeko both laughed, and Naeko signed the very bottom of the paper, in her best cursive (which was admittedly not all that great.)
"You're so lazy—"
"Damn skippy!"
"--I'm not sure how I ever thought you were the second Kira!"
There was an awkward silence between the two, and Naeko distinctly heard the shrieking of a girl on the other side of the classroom, a boy standing beside her with a smirk on his face. The girl was sputtering something about the boy "feeling her up" or some other nonsense, and Naeko turned her attention elsewhere. The girl just wanted attention, and she was getting it. Or, wait, that was a slip for detention that the sub was handing the girl. Her bad.
Naeko heard the shuffling of books and looked back at Hideki. He was sliding her paper into a folder (that sort of surprised her, she thought he'd just crumple it up and throw it away) and was taking out another piece of paper. This paper was the plain kind that you put in the printer, but it had already been typed on.
"Here," Hideki said, offering the paper to Naeko, who took it with an air of uncertainty. "I'm having a Christmas party this year, so that I can get to know my peers better. If everything goes well here in the US, my parents are willing to let me stay and go to college here, too, and that's sort of what my dream in life has been. Sound corny much?"
Naeko had to hold her mouth closed with her hand. "That's what your life long dream has been?" she asked, although it was a little muffled. Hideki nodded, and Naeko took the hand away from her mouth, thinking seriously.
"Is it that bad of a dream?" Hideki asked, a cross between amusement and concern etched over his fine features.
Naeko shook her head. "Well, no, but, oh…it sounds so…short-term, you know? I mean, it really isn't that hard to get into an American college. We have pretty damn low standards." Chuckling nervously, Naeko turned her attention to the paper in her hand before she could make a bigger ass of herself.
The paper was pretty plain, as far as decoration went. There was information sprawled out over the paper in big, fancy cursive (now why couldn't she write like that?) that looked barely legible, and then at the bottom was Hideki Ryuuga's name.
"I've invited friends from all over the world; even those that don't celebrate Christmas. Even if you come just to humor me, it would be a great time to meet some new faces." Hideki looked really hopeful, so Naeko shook her head yes.
"I'm not exactly the most social type, but I'll see if I can make it." Ryuuga nodded gratefully, so Naeko put the paper in her folder.
"Mm, wait, I have another one for you to pass on to Light Yagami. Here," Hideki said, holding out another paper, almost identical to Naeko's except for the name at the top. "I never seem to run into Light in the hallways or at lunch, so I figured I would be able to meet and talk to him if he came to the party."
Naeko instantly brightened. "Yeah, sure, that's a great idea! I think Light has been wanting to meet you too, actually." That was a lie. "I bet he'd love to come to your party!" Another lie. "Light's not really the social butterfly, but he opens up quickly if he likes you." Lie, lie, lie.
Hideki smiled warmly. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, Naeko decided. It didn't fit his personality, but god did it make him look heavenly. She wanted to snap a picture of him smiling like that and hang it on her wall…
Shaking her head, Naeko tried to erase her previous thoughts. She loved Light. She loved him. Yet here she was, crushing over some random classmate she hadn't even know for more than 3 days, at the best.
Well, let's rephrase that. She was crushing over his looks, but he could leave that attitude of his at the door.
"So, um," Naeko said, trying to strike up conversation once again, "why is it I never see you at lunch?" Stealing a glance at the clock, Naeko inwardly groaned. They had to spend another 20 freakin' minutes discussing the possibility of going into cardiac arrest after eating the school's "food".
"I don't really like that kind of food," Hideki said with disinterest. "I prefer sweets, actually – I might have said that earlier. So I stop by the nurse's office and help myself to the candy bars in the fridge. That lady – the nurse – never really notices."
Naeko cocked her head to one side and said, "Really?"
"Yeah, she never comes out of that office—"
"No, no, I mean…you really don't seem like the kind of guy who would have a sweet tooth. It surprises me." Naeko laughed nervously. "I mean, you always look so serious!" Except for when he was sending her those yummy smiles that she wanted to hang on the wall…heck, couldn't she just kidnap him and stuff him in her closet? Lots of creepy perverted guys did that all the time with young school girls and got away with it, so why couldn't she do it too?
Okay, well, duh. That was a stupid question.
"You think I look serious?" Hideki asked, amusement tinting his aura. His lips twitched, and his eyes laughed. My God, Naeko thought, I never noticed how much expression a person's face could have! And all this from someone who's mood is always a blank card!
"U-um, yeah, I mean, you rarely ever smile, and…" Naeko broke away, because then Hideki's lips curled up and he directed the most breathtaking smile Naeko had ever seen at the subject of his torture.
"That better?" the boy asked, the smile still fixed on his face. His expression and the tone of his voice reminded her of one of the handsome bishies in anime cartoons her sister had watched with her. Any second now, she expected little pink clouds and hearts to rise up from around Hideki's seat and surround his shining face. Then, every girl in the class (herself included) would turn to look at him and little stars would pop up where their eyes were supposed to be. Then, a fanclub would be formed in honor of the handsome exchange student, and…well, she could go on and on.
"Are you alright, Miss Menshi?" Hideki asked, bringing Naeko back to reality. He looked very concerned. "Your cheeks are really red, are you sure you still don't have a fever?" he raised a hand to put against Naeko's cheek, but she swatted it away.
"I'm fine! And what's with calling me "Miss Menshi"? My name's Naeko, so just say Naeko, alright?! "Miss Menshi" makes me sound like an old person!" Naeko huffed and turned in her seat, so that her back was mostly facing Hideki. Then she sneaked another peek at the clock. 5 more minutes. She was doing very well, in her opinion. They hadn't talked about Kira very much at all in the period – not seriously, anyway - which was sort of what her goal was.
"Well, I'm sorry," Hideki said, and he sounded a little hurt, so Naeko glanced over her shoulder. He too was looking up at the clock. But his eyes remained motionless, if not a little glazed over.
"I'm sorry," Naeko squeaked, and she flipped back around in her seat, to give Hideki her undivided attention.
Hideki slowly turned his gaze from the clock to her, and he was smiling again, one of those warm smiles that she loved so much. "Yeah, I really don't know why I thought you were the second Kira. You're just too gutless."
Naeko was about ready to squawk out an indignant protest when the bell rang, and Hideki slid out of his seat. "Will I see you at my party?" he asked softly.
Naeko scoffed. "It's not even for a while, so I'll think about it." Another 'lost puppy' look from Hideki and she quickly added, "But, even famous people like myself have to go out and party sometimes, so I might as well go for the heck of it. And I'll be sure to bring my date!" Naeko winked, but Hideki darkened.
"Yes, Yagami Light…please make sure he comes," Hideki said, so softly that Naeko could barely hear him.
Naeko laughed, able to keep the nervousness out of her laugh for once. "Yeah, I'll even drag him there if I have to! Well, I'll be late to class if I don't leave soon, so I'll see you later. Bye!" And then she rushed out of the room.
Light met up with Naeko just as the tardy bell rang. She had been standing by her locker, because she knew that if she didn't show up to class, Light would leave to come find her. It didn't seem like something he would do, but she knew he would.
Unfortunately, Light looked furious when he approached Naeko in the hallway. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked her, half shouting, but afraid that a teacher would poke their head out of their door to see who wasn't in their classrooms yet.
Naeko just ran up to him and pounced on him, swinging from his neck and giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Can we skip the rest of the day, Light-chan?" she asked in her cutest voice. Light looked horrified (and possibly even more pissed) at the honorific she attached to his name, but he didn't asked any questions. Nodding slightly, the two snuck to the back door and exited the school building, shielding their eyes as the bright winter sun scorched their eyes and warmed their bodies.
"Where are we going?" Light instinctively asked, but Naeko shook her head and gave him a mischievous smile, snatching up his hand in hers as the walked down the snow-filled sidewalk.
"You'll see."
Yay! Was this chapter a little longer? I sure hope so. It didn't quite meet the standards that I had set for myself, but then again, I'm the type of person who starts something and never finishes it. Actually, I've finished quite a few stories, and I can't wait for this one to be done! No joke, I'm ready for it to end. So, me thinking about 5 or less chapters left. Me thinks that sound good. For me, not you. At least, me thinks.
Oh, and don't forget to vote for the whole "love triangle" thing. Remember, "Schaudenfreude!"
…Time for me to eat fish…