Disclaimer- I don't own Death Note

So about that reallllyyyy loooonnnnggg wait.. Sorry... This chapter isn't the best ever, but it's a chapter and I tried my best.. I know what I want to happen and all, but I just can't seem to get it down. Anyways, expect only 2 more chapters. The final chapter is already in the works so I just need to get the next one done... So actually I guess there will probably be 3 more chapters total...

Chapter 44

A New Proposal

Scowling, Noriko turned her back on the black clad guard that now stood between her and the door and stomped back to her room. Plopping herself into the cushioned window seat, she stared with annoyance over the dreary looking day. It was raining out and the sky was a dark gray that was occasionally lit by thick bolts of lightning.

It had been an entire month since she had woken up and in that month she hadn't been allowed even an inch outside of the large manor she was living in with L, Watari and what seemed like more guards than were necessary. Her strength was returning very slowly thanks to the daily three hour long sessions of physical therapy she was forced to endure. Part of her thought that the reason for the lengthy sessions was to keep her occupied and to tire her out so she would be less likely to try and run off. Of course it hadn't stopped her from attempting to get out of the house on an almost daily basis, but every time she neared a door or tried to pry a window open one of the guards would show up and ruin her attempts at escape.

Her mood wasn't particularly kind and she found herself having to hunt down L who spent much of his time hunched up in front of a computer working on as many cases as he could get. Easy cases from agencies all over the world. He used the name Eraldo Coil to solve all of them since he couldn't very well use L while Light was posing as him in Japan. He was trying to stay as busy as possible in hopes that Noriko would leave him alone and not yell at him as she had been prone to do quite often in the past month.

Even her dad kept his distance from her, she had a habit of throwing the nearest object at him whenever he appeared and had broken numerous tea cups and dishes in her anger. The only person she talked to civilly was Watari and it was usually only when the older man was around that L and her dad would willing show their faces in hopes that perhaps she wouldn't have a temper tantrum while the kind elderly man was around. They were partially right, she didn't yell or throw things while Watari was around, instead she ignored their existence entirely.

After sulking for a good twenty minutes in her window seat, Noriko pushed herself up from the cushions and left the room. She wandered through the large house, peeking her head in each and every door until she found L hunched up on the floor of a bedroom with a plate of cookies and a cup of sugared tea beside him. Stepping into the room, she shut the door behind her and sat herself down in front of L, who stayed focused on his laptop while she stared at him.

"I want out of this house, L," Noriko told him tersely.

"Hm?" He looked up from biting into a cookie, crumbs dusting his chin while he innocently blinked at her.

She sighed and folded her arms over her chest. "You heard me. Don't play dumb with me, you're one of the smartest people alive. I'm not going to buy the dumb, innocent act. I want out. I need clothes, a hair cut and fresh air before I go in insane."

"No."

Noriko twitched at the immediate response. "I'll bake you a cake."

L's eyebrows rose slightly. "No. Nori-san can't change my mind. Until you're healed and until I know you won't try to run off, you're not leaving this house."

"How am I supposed to run off when you have me guarded by more people than you should be able to fit in this house? There are three guards in the hall by my room for crying out loud! And at least five outside of it! I can't even move without you knowing!"

L winced and cringed away from Noriko. "Nori-san is being loud," he grumbled.

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Noriko stood up quickly with every intention of storming from the room. That was until her feet became entangled in the cords and she collided with L's laptop before falling on top of the detective himself.

"Ow," Noriko groaned, her eyes screwed shut and her face pulled into a grimace.

"Nori-san is heavy," L muttered.

"Oh, shut up," Noriko grumbled, trying to push herself off of L only to freeze when the door to the room opened and look up with wide eyes at Watari.

The older man blinked at the two people entangled together on the floor and blinked before smiling. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No."

"Yes."

Noriko glared down at L, she had managed to get herself onto her hands and push her body upwards. "I fell! Don't go making it sound like something it's not!"

"I'll just come back later," Watari said.

"Thank you, Watari," L replied as the man retreated from the room.

"What the hell?" Noriko snapped. "What are you trying to make him think we were doing?"

"You're being loud again," L complained, sticking a finger in his ear.

"I'm going to-" She was cut off when L's lips crashed onto hers, she gasped, her eyes widening as she tried to pull away only fall onto her side with an "Ouch."

"Were you saying something?" L asked, sitting upright again now that Noriko was no longer on top of him.

"Yes," she replied with a groan as she pushed herself up and rubbed at her elbow that had scraped against the carpet. "I was saying that I-" Once again L's lips met hers and with a few flails of her arms, Noriko managed to back up a few inches and distance them. "Would you stop that?" She snapped.

He thoughtfully mused over her question, ignoring her rather stormy glare. "No," he stated matter-of-factly after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm done talking to you," Noriko said blandly, beginning to stand up only to have L grab her hand and tug her back down. She jolted forward slightly and once again found L's lips against her own. If it weren't for the fact she was so ticked off, she might have enjoyed the feeling. His lips were surprisingly soft and warm, he also tasted like cookies which she didn't really mind. Living with him had made her sweet tooth go crazy, the house always smelled like cake or cookies or some kind of sweet and she couldn't help but to drool over it every time.

Realizing that while she sat around thinking about all of these things, L's lips were still firmly planted against her own, Noriko squealed and pushed L away. She tried to glare at the disheveled man, but judging by the amused smirk on his face, she wasn't being very intimidating.

"Do that one more time and I'm giving Watari a much needed day off and cooking you nothing but vegetables," Noriko threatened stubbornly.

"I have sweets stashed everywhere. Nori-san's threat doesn't scare me."

Noriko smirked. "You forget that you haven't let me out of this house since I woke up. I've had lots of time to explore and find all of those candy stashes. Did you think I didn't know there would be piles of candy hidden throughout a house you live in?"

L's eyes narrowed. "Nori-san is bluffing."

"Try me," she countered.

"Well at least you two are getting along again."

Twitching, Noriko grabbed a cookie from the plate she had knocked over in all of her flailing to get away from L and chucked it at the translucent face of her father, who ducked out of the way despite knowing it would have gone through him anyway.

"That wasn't very nice, sweetie," the man pouted.

"What do you want, dad," Noriko asked grumpily.

"Just to say you look oh so cute!" He squealed.

Twitching again, she reached for the nearest object, another cookie and sent it flying towards her dad. It exploded into a shower of crumbs against the wall when he moved his head aside.

"You're wasting perfectly good food, dear," he chided. "I thought I taught you better."

Taking a deep breath, she resisted the urge to throw anything else and scowled angrily at her dad. "I'm going back to my room," she said, standing up and heading for the door.

"Nori-san," L drawled. "You broke all of my cookies."

"So what?"

"Get me some more."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I asked nicely."

"No."

"Nori is mean."

"Thanks for dropping the san, but I'm still not getting you cookies."

"I'll let you go outside."

That stopped her in her tracks. Pausing by the door, she looked over shoulder and studied L suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"You'll still have guards and Watari will be with you, but I'll agree to let you go shopping. If you try to run off though, you'll be brought back here and I won't let you out of my sight again. Ever."

"Pervert," Noriko mumbled. "But fine. I'll go get you cookies."

"And tea."

"That wasn't part of the deal," Noriko snapped.

"Does Nori want out of the house or not," L asked, his attention focused on his laptop.

Noriko was certain he was smirking like a kid in a candy shop, but chose to ignore that small fact and snorted in disdain before leaving to get tea and cookies.

"This is not what I expected when he said I'd be allowed to go shopping. It's embarrassing," Noriko mumbled.

She was walking besides Watari and they were surrounded by four guards. It didn't matter where Noriko went or what she needed to buy, they never left. Even when she went to try clothes on they posted themselves right outside of the dressing room.

It had to have been the quickest trip she had ever taken to a mall. The haircut was the longest, her short cut had grown out and deciding to keep it long, she just got a trim and some layers added in and had the highlights freshened up. She was thankful that no one really seemed to speak Japanese outside of Watari and a few of the guards. It made it easier to mumble curses under her breath whenever she felt particularly annoyed with L for subjecting her to the humiliation of being constantly surrounded by intimidating looking guards.

When the group returned to the manor, she had every intention of letting L know she was displeased, but she immediately noticed that something seemed to be wrong. He had been on the phone, holding up to his ear with his thumb and forefinger and he had a slight frown on his face. He had barely glanced at her before ending the call and shoving the phone back in his pocket.

"What happened," Noriko asked, not wanting L to try and steer the subject in another direction.

He scratched at his messy mane of black hair and rubbed his right foot against his left leg. It would have been comical if Noriko's heart wasn't beating furiously in her chest. The Kira case was something that hadn't really been discussed since the day she had woken up, as worried as she was about it, she knew that Mello and Matt, with L's help even from a such a distance would be okay. They were smart boys and she had promised herself she wouldn't let anything happen to them. She believed in herself and in them, there would be nothing at all to fear.

Light would be taken down and Kira would be defeated. The world wouldn't have to live in fear any longer after that. She was waiting for that day, impatiently, but waiting none the less. It was all she could do. Defeating Kira was going to take time, it wasn't something that could happen over night. Not with how smart Light was.

"L," she pressed.

He sighed. "I received a phone call from a contact in Japan that was looking after Matt and Mello."

"Are they alright?"

"They've disappeared."

Noriko blinked. "Disappeared?" She asked worriedly.

L nodded. "I don't think it's anything to be concerned about-"

"How could you think that? They're-"

"They're smarter than they look," L interrupted. "They have essentially been in charge of the investigation, but not officially. I've been working with them, but I can't be there with them and I was planning on having someone else who could move around more freely help them. Unfortunately, Mello wasn't happy with the person I had chosen. I expected this. They're both fine and they'll turn up when they feel like it."

Noriko frowned. "You're sure?"

L nodded.

She let out a long breath and smiled. "If you say so, then I won't worry."

Giving her a partial smile of his own, L watched Noriko skip off down the hall to her room, her bags jostling in her hands.

"Hey, you know I'm not going to eat you so you can stop hiding in a different room everyday," Noriko told L with a smile as she pushed the door open to the library to see L crouched on the couch with his laptop set up on a coffee table in front of him.

"What's that," L asked, looking up when Noriko pushed a serving cart in the room that looked very much like the one that Watari always loaded with his sweets. He was also certain he could smell strawberry angel food cake and his mouth was beginning to water.

Noriko grinned. "Thought you could use a snack."

He watched her suspiciously as she wheeled the cart into the room and began to put some of the treats onto a plate and pour a cup of tea into a cup mostly full of sugar.

"Stop looking at me like that. I didn't poison the food. Now drink your sugar." Noriko thrust the thick brownish tea in front of L's face.

He instinctively backed away from the tea cup and eyed it wearily.

"Just take it, I didn't do anything to it."

"But you put the sugar in the cup first," he pointed out.

"So?"

"You're supposed to put the sugar in the tea, not the tea in the sugar."

"Does it really matter? This way you don't spill everywhere and it's the same thing anyway. A bunch of sugar and hardly any tea. Drink it, eat it, whatever it is you do." The tea cup rattled in her hand as she pushed it closer to L.

With a childlike frown, L took the cup from her outstretched hand and took a sip. "It tastes funny."

Noriko rolled her eyes. "Just be quiet already. Here," she put the plate she had been stacking with sweets of all kinds on the table by L's laptop.

She then poured another cup of tea, put a few pastries on another plate and took a seat besides L. "So what are you working on? Anything I can help with," she offered, taking a sip of her tea and then a bite out of a raspberry filled pastry.

Slurping up some of his own tea, if it could still be called that, L made a face and set the cup down on the table. Picking up a macaroon, he tossed it into his mouth and chewed on it. "You should be resting, not helping."

"I rest a lot, I'm a little tired of resting. Besides, I can't really do much but support you and help you in anyway I can. I know that I can't do anything on my own to take Light down, but you can, even if you're not doing it very directly. I understand it can't be easy for you either, you're a pretty prideful person that doesn't like to lose. Yet, coming here to England and hiding from Light must feel like a pretty big defeat. I figure I should stop making things difficult and help, I won't accomplish anything by sulking or being angry at you. I believe in you guys, you, Mello and Matt and while I can't really help with much since I can't risk Light knowing I'm alive, I can still help in other ways. I'll be your cheerleader," she joked, grinning crookedly at L.

There was a short pause. "Will you wear one of the costumes?"

It took her a moment to process the words, but when she did, she grabbed the pillow from behind her and whacked L over the head with it. "Pervert!"

"I was only asking," L mumbled, pouting while biting on the tip of his thumb and staring at his laptop.

Noriko rolled her eyes and ignored the pouting detective, sipping her tea and watching him as he went back to work. Watching him work was fairly boring, especially since she wasn't doing anything but watching. After nearly an hour of silence, she began to nod off. Her physical therapy had been rather strenuous that day, there had been lots of exercises to strengthen her still weak back and in turn her legs and arms.

She tried to stay awake, but after awhile, she found herself leaning further and further to the side, closer and closer to L. When her head fell onto L's shoulder, she barely noticed and didn't move.

L blinked over at her, his hands freezing over his keyboard. For several seconds, he thought about what to do. In the end, he let Noriko remain the way she was and went back to work. What he hadn't expected was that the quiet, even rhythm of her breathing would lull him into sleep too.

Neither one expected to wake up a few hours later to see a picture of the two of them sleeping against one another prominently displayed on L's laptop, either.

It didn't take long for L to see that if Noriko was kept busy, she was less likely to stare off into space looking depressed and she spent less time questioning him relentlessly about the Kira case. There wasn't much to tell her about the Kira case anyway, there was nothing new. Kira was killing regularly and there were no mistakes being made, which meant there was no way to pinpoint Light as Kira.

In order to keep her occupied, he had begun to have her help him with the many cases that were pouring in for him to solve. Sometimes he had her work on them on her own, of course he checked her work carefully before sending his replies, but it kept her busy and gave her something to focus on.

As the months past though, she became more and more distant. She tried to stay happy, positive and calm, but she found it difficult when she knew what was going on in the rest of the world that she had more or less been locked away from.

L wasn't at all surprised when he began to notice Noriko withdrawing into herself, he knew he could only keep her preoccupied and distracted for so long. He just didn't know what to do now, he had no intention of letting her out of his sight, but he couldn't continue to keep her holed up in the house. She would only end up resenting him for essentially keeping her a prisoner.

"Tea?"

Noriko didn't even move from her position, leaning into the wall and hugging a pillow to her chest while she sat huddled in the window seat. It was raining out again and she was lost in the calming sounds of the drops pitter pattering against the glass. Her eyes were glossy and blank, hardly any emotion was readable in them. It was like she was an empty shell, a ghost of what she had once been like.

She jumped in surprise when a finger was pressed into her side. Blinking, she turned her head to look up at L who looked rather concerned as he frowned down at her.

"I had Watari bring some tea and snacks. You didn't eat breakfast this morning," L said.

Noriko blinked a few more times before looking behind L's slouched form to see a little cart had been pushed into her room. There was a pot of tea and several covered dishes.

"I'm not hungry," she stated monotonously, turning her head to stare outside once again.

He frowned at the barely responsive girl and scratched at his head. He wasn't really sure what to do or say and felt a little awkward. Sighing, he turned away from Noriko and put his hands in his pockets as he slouched towards the door. He paused a few feet from it and thoughtfully tilted his head. After several moments of thought, he turned around and walked back up to Noriko and poked her in the side.

She let out a tired sigh and swiveled her head around to look up at him. She didn't say anything and waited for L to tell her what it was that he wanted from her.

"Nori-san," he began, trailing off and frowning for moment.

Noriko tilted a brow at the disheveled detective. It had been awhile since he had called her Nori-san, he usually only did it when he was being playfully or was picking on her anymore. This time he didn't seem to be picking on her, nor did he seem to be in a particularly playful mood. He almost seemed confused as he frowned rather cutely out the window and scratched at the back of his neck.

"Yes," she pressed, interested in just what L was up to since he was acting a bit more odd than usual.

Glancing back into Noriko's eyes, L shifted his weight uncertainly and shoved his hands in his pockets. He then started staring at the ceiling as if anything was better than looking at her.

"Well," she pressed again, now thoroughly confused by L's behavior.

"Would you marry me?"

She blinked. And then blinked again, her jaw falling open in the process. "What?" She asked, she was entirely convinced she had him wrong. She had to have heard him wrong because there was just no way he had just proposed to her. None.

"Would Nori-san like to marry me?"

She blinked several times. "Why?"

L shrugged.

"I'm confused," Noriko conceded slowly, her brows knitting together.

"Usually," L mumbled.

Her eyebrow twitched. "No."

"No what?"

"I won't marry you."

"Why not?"

"Why should I," Noriko asked.

"Because you love me."

"Didn't I tell you once before not to decide that all on your own?"

L shrugged again. "But it's true. Nori-san is in love with me."

"Really?"

"Yes. You're cute when you're annoyed," L replied.

Noriko rolled her eyes. "I'm not in love with you."

"Really?" L questioned, sounding rather disappointed as a thoughtful pouty frown appeared on his face.

"Really."

"Hm. Well that's disappointing."

"Is it now," Noriko asked blandly.

"Yes, because I love Nori-san."

"Whatever," she sighed, turning away from L and closing her eyes. They snapped open a few seconds later and she nearly fell out of the window seat when she tried to turn back towards L. "What did you just say?"

"That I love Nori-san."

"You love me?"

"That's what I said."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm always serious."

"True... So that whole proposal thing... Was real?"

"You're slow, aren't you?" L asked teasingly.

"Shut up! You can't just ask out of the blue like that! You're supposed to prepare and stuff!"

"How?"

"I don't know!"

"You're being loud," L grumbled.

"And you're being impossible!" Noriko snapped. "If you're going to ask a girl to marry you then at least do it right!"

"Will you say yes?"

Noriko flushed bright red. "N-no."

"You're lying. If you're going to say yes anyways then why should I ask again?"

"I am not marrying you!"

"Yes you are," L replied matter of factly.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to go deciding things all on your own!"

"You can make all of the arrangements. I'll tell Watari to help you with whatever you need." He then began to saunter out of the room.

"I'm not marrying you," Noriko shouted after him, throwing the pillow she had been holding to her chest at the door and watching it with a scowl as it thunked into the door and then plopped onto the floor.

Frustrated and utterly dumbfounded by what had just happened, Noriko rose from the window and stomped after L. She caught up to him in the hall, he hadn't gotten far and she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. He hummed and faced her with a bored expression.

"I am not-" She was cut off when L leaned forward and placed his lips over hers in a quick kiss. Swatting him away, Noriko scowled and stepped back. "I am not marrying you."

"I believe you are."

"No."

"Don't you love me?"

"I care very much about you, but I..." She trailed off when he stepped towards her and she instinctively stepped backwards. There was an odd look in his eyes, mischievous yet caring all at the same time and she realized that he was serious. "I'm going back to my room. Bye," she chirped, spinning around and running back into her room. Once there she tossed herself onto her bed and buried herself beneath the fluffy blankets. "This can't be happening," she mumbled into her pillow.

"Wait a minute," she muttered a few minutes later. Throwing the blankets off of her head she frowned at the ceiling. "Am I engaged?"

Review please!

Oh and I have a poll up on my profile, check it out if you have a moment. Thanks!