The Little Things Give You Away

By AishiExcel

Don't own anything. Half credit goes to Nikkiacat.

It's been another long update. I guess this one is just due to laziness… But I have been busy… Oh!! My sister and I cosplayed Mello and Near today. Anyone who's interested can look on my profile… I should be posting a link in a few days. Ha ha.

Anyways. Last time the song was Hospital by The Used. This time I'm too lazy to bother. Read on, brave soul!

Darkness.

At first, there was utter darkness, and the Light could hear faraway voices.

He struggled to piece together a thought. Where am I? What's going on? Why….

He couldn't finish any of the thoughts, though, and so he drifted into silence and let the voices slip in and out of focus.

"He overheated," said one. It was soft… monotonous. Memories buzzed around the edges of Light's eyes but he couldn't place it. "He will be fine, I assure you Matsuda-san. He simply needs to rest. I'll have Watari transport him to the hospital."
"B-bu- Ishhou- takeim- ome…" Slurred a voice. Light recognized it, too…

"You've been drinking, Matsuda-san. You should call a cab for yourself. It will be better if Watari and I take him to the hospital so we can keep him under surveillance and make sure he recuperates fully. He may need to take tomorrow off of whatever work he may be engaged in."

"R-righ… But how'd this 'appen?"

"All I can say is that it is rather warm in here and Light was wearing a black suit. Perhaps he simply has no tolerance for the heat. He should be more careful in the future."

"Right," slurred the second voice again. "Well… I'llcome vissi' him in the morning… just take care of 'im, okay?"

"I will. I promise," the first voice droned. "Do not worry."

After that Light lapsed into unconsciousness again. He remembered snatches of thins… cool water on his lips, his shirt being unbuttoned, a delightfully cool bed… And there was that flat voice again. It was murmuring something….

"I know it's foolish," the voice mumbled, "that I take such extreme measures. But I had to have a few more hours with you… just a few more… I wish I weren't such a bad person. Yagami-kun."

After that it was just blissful deep sleep.

In the morning Light bolted up, gasping, half-expecting that he'd still be on the floor in the benefit ball in front of the stage. But he was in a hospital bed, in a cool and refreshing room, with his shirt unbuttoned, his jacket and tie missing and a bewildered expression on his face.

"What-who-" he started to shout, but a voice silenced him.

"Shhhh, Light, don't panic. You are currently in a hospital room recovering from mild heatstroke. Your cell phone is on the table next to you and your manager is in the hall. There is nothing to be afraid of."

It took a minute for Light to recognize that it was the strange panda-eyed man from last night, Ryuzaki, perched on the end of his bed. He was crouched with his knees to his chest as he had been last night and he still appeared completely rumpled and bizarre. Instead of his suit from the night before, he was in a simple white sweater and jeans. Odd clothing for a doctor. In fact, nothing about him even remotely suggested the word "doctor". "Hobo" maybe, but definitely not "doctor".

"What happened?" light finally asked, his voice shaky. This guy… he was totally unnerving. Light almost wanted to run screaming out of the room…

"You overheated last night. Luckily I was around and nursed you back to health myself." Was he trying to sound like some kind of hero? Because it wasn't working.

"Oh…" Light murmured. Passing out last night had been a terrifying experience. He couldn't remember much of the lead-up to it, just that he'd had a headache and been very hot. Mostly he was worried about how the press would react to it. He could already hear the rumors flying on the internet- everything from "Light was on drugs and overdosed!" to "Light's secretly got cancer!" It was going to be all over the tabloids, too. There had been enough photographers there to get 4 different shots of him falling from every possible angle. He just hoped he'd looked good while he was unconscious.

Ryuzaki stood up and tottered over to Light's bedside, fixing that creepy unblinking gaze on the teen star. "How are you feeling now? Are you still rather warm or okay? Perhaps you need some water?"

"Some water would be nice," he murmured, licking his chapped lips. "Thank you… Ryuzaki." Somehow, calling him 'Doctor' seemed unnatural. And Light didn't even know his last name.

The bizarre man pushed a button near Light's bed and an intercom came on. "Some water, please," he asked simply, and within a few minutes a nurse in pink scrubs came in with a bottle of water which she handed to Ryuzaki.

"Here you go, Ryuu," she beamed in a voice rather similar to Misa's in annoying cheerfulness. She skipped out of the room and on to some other sad soul.

Light took careful not of the fact that she didn't call Ryuzaki by any title or act like he was her superior. However, she had to know him, because she was familiar enough to call him a pet name… What did this mean? Light still wasn't sure what exactly the deal with this man was and he was too thirsty to worry about it. He gracefully took the bottle and downed half of it.

"I believe your manager would like to come in," Ryuzaki mumbled. "He has been worrying himself sick in the waiting room for over an hour."

"What time and day is it?" Light hurriedly asked.

"Ten fifteen and four seconds, January fourth, the morning after the ball," Ryuzaki answered without a moment's hesitation. "No need to panic."

Light sighed and waved one hand absentmindedly at the door. "Tell him to come in. I don't want him to have a coronary or anything."

Matsuda burst in like a frantic puppy whose master has been away from the house for too long. "Oh! God! Light! I was so worried! Everyone was freaking out last night, and some pretty wild rumors started, and I had to convince everyone that you weren't on ecstasy or something, and then I didn't know what was wrong with you and-"

"Calm down!" interrupted Light. "I guess I just overheated. It's happened before. What's going on? Did you quell the rumors?"

That was Light. He was always business first.

"Yeah, finally. I was really worried, Light. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Light mumbled. " I can probably make it to filming today…"

"Oh no! Don't worry about it!" Matsuda hurriedly interjected. "We're just shooting some of Misa's scenes and then there's something else going on. You don't need to show up. I promise." Matsuda grinned that goofy grin and Light swore his tail was wagging. "Just rest up."

"What was the other thing you're talking about?" Light pressed on. If he didn't keep Matsuda rambling, he'd be stuck in here with the creepy Ryuzaki, and he didn't want that to happen.

"Oh! I heard a rumor from one of the writers that Kira may be getting a rival- another dark angel! Isn't that cool?"

"Nnh." Light rolled his eyes. He didn't want a rival. He didn't need a rival. Kira was great as he was. But whatever. He could deal with that, he supposed, as long as it kept people watching him.

"Well, I really got to go," Matsuda announced, and it was only then that Light realized how hung-over the older man looked. He had probably drunk too much last night and then hardly slept. He must've been up all night fretting over Light and making phone calls.

Idiot.

Matsuda waved at Light and took off. Honestly, people like him were fools. He just let himself be bossed around by Light. It was almost pathetic.

Ryuzaki cleared his throat and Light nearly jumped out of his skin. "Oh! You're still there," he garbled nervously.

"Light-kun has officially been cleared and can leave the hospital whenever he pleases," Ryuzaki announced without prelude. "But I think it would be best if I got his cell phone number to call and check up on him later this afternoon."

Light had never wanted anything less than for this bizarre man to have his cell phone number, but…

He remembered how eerily Ryuzaki had guessed about his IQ last night.

And he still didn't know if he was really a doctor or not. He wasn't going to let that mystery escape him. So he cheerfully complied.

"Okay, but maybe I better get your number too in case I feel bad at any point today. Mine's 555-739-7985. What's yours?"

"555-739-6327," Ryuzaki rattled off, and Light had him repeat it two more times before he could type it into his phone. "Wow. Here we are exchanging cell phone numbers almost as if we were friends."

Light choked and nearly fell out of his bed. "Wha-what? Friends?"

"Sure," Ryuzaki continued. "It would be nice. Light-kun could be my first friend."

Light froze in his tracks. Was this guy serious… did he really have no…?

Light looked at him more carefully. Rather than looking at his creepy eyes, tousled hair or bad posture, Light looked more carefully at him. The bizarre maybe-doctor had very tight shoulders, drawn up tightly, like he was keeping something in. He was very… insecure looking.

"Sure," Light found himself blurting out, "you can be my friend."

Ryuzaki's wide eyes shot open a little more. "Really?"

Light regretted it instantly, but he didn't withdraw the offer. "Sure. I guess. I mean, I've never been friends with a doctor before."

A strange grin crept onto Ryuzaki's face and somehow Light found himself grinning back. After all, there was no better way to unravel a mystery than to make friends with it.

Hooray!! I finally updated!!

I went out to a lake the other day and I got myself horribly sunburned. I'm really badly hurting here on my shoulders and back and it's been driving me crazy. But on the upside, I now own How to read vol. 13, two L badges and the L.A. BB book (which I'm totally obsessed with.) As such I remembered that I had some Deathnote fanficcin' to do and came back to work on this. Next chap should be up pretty soon... I'll finally properly introduce Mello, YAAAAY!! I can't wait to add his character. A doctor, a singer, and an actor… The only one who has their normal career in this is Misa! Wtf!

Okay well I ramble a lot. Review, and I'll love you forever!