Chapter 7: Meeting

Light was watching L sleep.

The boy had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room, halfway through researching everything he could find on the Kira Case. There was precious little information after New Year's of 2004, and what he could find was mostly media-based rather than real facts. Light had learned in the process that L, either having a flair for the dramatic or just not giving a damn about what day it was, had revealed himself to the task force at midnight on January first. After that, the police had all but stopped investigating, and from L's own paranoia, information was scarce.

Light picked up the blanket from the back of the couch, draping it over L. He looked less worried, younger, when he was asleep. He could never remember seeing the detective sleep in his past life, and took full opportunity of it now. The paranoid detective only went to sleep after Light, and always woke up before him. There were certainly times he never slept at all.

That done, he settled into a chair nearby, thinking. For the most part, he kept his memories of Kira pushed to the back of his mind. He knew it was something he had to come to terms with, that in a past life he had been the mass murderer of hundreds of thousands of people, but he much preferred not to think about it. If that were the case, and he knew it was, he had murdered L. Looking at the boy currently lying on the couch and nibbling his thumb in his sleep, he wondered how he could have ever brought himself to go through with it. L was one of very few people he could really talk to. He couldn't have really wanted him to die.

L stirred, blinking awake slowly. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and looked at Light, puzzled.

"Did I fall asleep?"

Light nodded. "You looked really tired. You didn't sleep well last night either?" Nightmares had haunted Light's sleep all night. The faces of the people he killed kept appearing to him, wailing about how he was a murderer.

L blinked. "Correct. Sleep eludes me…" He frowned. "I dream about dying."

Light cringed. That was what he had least wanted to hear. Guilt threatened to swamp him again, before L caught sight of his expression. "It isn't your fault, Light-kun. You have no control over who you were, just as I have no control over who I was. Please don't blame yourself."

Light sighed. "Still, L. I killed you. I can't just apologize and say 'Sorry, it won't happen again!'"

"It won't, will it?" L asked softly.

Light looked up in shock. "Of course not!" he cried indignantly. L smiled.

"Then that's good enough for me."

xXx

They went out after that, mostly because they felt like lunch out, but partly because home seemed very crushing at that moment. Walking down the bustling streets, L looked around at all the people, wondering then if any of them were like he and Light. Obviously without unlocked memories, but alike all the same. It was a borderline depressing thought, and L crushed it, refusing to dwell on it. It was childish and immature to try and block away the bad things, but he did it anyway.

As they picked through the crowds carefully, Light suddenly grabbed L's arm and pulled him to the side, into the shadow of a building. L fought for a brief moment, but then surrendered abruptly as Light pointed.

"Ryuk."

The Shinigami was flying unseen above the crowd, a black shadow on Tokyo's streets. Light flattened himself to the wall, attempting to evade the Shinigami's notice, and L did the same.

"He won't see us…" L whispered, as if speaking in a normal tone might call the Shinigami down on them. Light nodded tensely. Seeing the Death God was bad, as both of them knew. It meant there was a Death Note in the human world, and neither of them wanted the notebook to interfere in their lives again. L started to edge along the building, heading for the nearest doorway to escape into. They could leave and pretend to have never seen Ryuk, and everything could stay normal. But he froze as Ryuk's red eyes slid over to spotlight both of them against the wall.

Light frowned. "Too late now." he whispered. "He saw us." He walked past L, who looked confused for a moment, but followed. Light turned down an alley, walking around the back of one of the buildings to an empty space. Debris and trash lay scattered around the space.

L blinked. "Where are we?"

"Well…" Light mused. "If Ryuk wants to come and talk to us, he can't do it in the middle of a street. We should see what he has to say. Maybe we can find out who has his Death Note. He's following a human, after all."

They waited a few minutes, and finally heard hesitant footsteps coming around the corner. Ryuk flapped in to stand off to the side, and a small form hurried into view.

L's eyes widened. It was that boy from the other day! His eyes were wide as he stared at Light and L in awe. Stopping before them, he bowed.

"Kira-sama." he said, still looking at the ground. Light drew back, a look of mixed horror and disgust on his face. The boy looked up then, adding politely but with a measure of irritation, "Eru-san."

Light scowled. "Who are you? And why do you call me by the name of that murderer?"

"My name is Taro Kagami. And you are Kira-sama, who Uncle Teru followed and who was going to fix the world and get rid of the bad people." the boy said brightly. As Light and L stared at him, he added, "Ryuk told me."

Light fixed a glare on the Shinigami, who grinned and chuckled. Light sighed, looking down at the boy in front of him, and said firmly, "Kira's ideals were wrong, Taro. I'm not Kira anymore."

Taro gaped at him. Then he pointed accusingly at L. "It's his fault, isn't it?! He brainwashed you!" L stepped back, startled by the sudden accusation. The boy glared at the raven-head, until Light finally spoke up again.

"I may have been Kira in a past life, but I'm not Kira now. What I was doing was… terrible. You should get rid of the Death Note as soon as possible."

Taro frowned. "Emi was right. You are different." He kicked at the dirt under his feet. "You're no help to us, then." L's inner detective perked at the statement, but he kept silent, hoping that they boy could be coerced into saying more.

Light spoke up then. "How is it that we can see Ryuk? We didn't touch a Death Note."

Taro looked puzzled. "Yes you did. You handed it back to me, remember?" He blinked up at Light, confusion evident on his face.

"None of those notebooks were black." L said softly. Ryuk erupted into laughter from his corner, and all three turned to look at him, baffled.

"There are Death Notes in the Shinigami realm that are other colors." he explained, laughing. "Death Notes can be black, red, or white. Taro's is white."

"Oh!" L remembered picking up the white notebook and passing it to Light that day on the street. "Then we had no way of knowing it was a Death Note." He glanced at Light, who looked almost sick. Thinking quickly, he turned to Taro. "He is no longer Kira, as I am no longer L. We want no part of whatever you are trying to accomplish. All we want is a normal life."

Taro looked almost disappointed. "Emi will be upset…" he muttered. L caught the name, yet again, and stored it away in his memory for later. Taro frowned, saying sullenly, "Bye," before walking back away through the alley. Ryuk chuckled, before following.

Light turned to look at L. "Thanks for the save. I didn't know what else to say." L shrugged. Light looked up into the sky. "A child with a Death Note. What could possibly come of that?" Looking back at L, he added, "I think it's going to rain. We should head home."

"I like the rain." L said, moving to follow as Light started in the direction of home. "It washes things away. It helps me think clearly, but at the same time…" He paused, considering, and then added, "It makes me feel sad. Like the heavens are crying."

Light couldn't help but stop and turn to face him. "Do you remember…?" he began without thinking.

L nodded. "I knew. I had known for a while."

Light could only stare at him, and for the first time in either of his lives he realized just how strong L must have been, to go through that day knowing that he wouldn't live to see the end of it. To stand on the roof and speak to him so calmly, when any normal person would have cried and screamed and fought back just to save themselves. Yet L had known that his death would eventually set up Near's win, and he had simply let it come…

Light blinked. "I…" He stopped, not sure what he had been intending to say. "Let's go home. I think I need a serious cup of coffee."

L tilted his head curiously, wondering what had been going through Light's head, but didn't press the matter. He simply followed the auburn-haired teen home, listening as the rain pursued them.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Rain. :)

Watched 25 in English. CRIED. But they changed the dialogue on the roof and obliterated every HINT of shounen-ai there might have been. But they left the foot thing alone. Go figure.

Again, HTR13 is VERY helpful. I like the rule about the different colored Death Notes. I'm going to exploit the most obscure rules, so prepare yourselves now. :)

A sleeping L is an adorable L, ne?
Love and hugs!
Li