DS
Disclaimer: If I were as talented as Tsugumi Ohba or Takeshi Obata, would I be writing fanfiction?
Chibi Misa: You'd have made all your lovely ideas into a manga!
Me: Like, totally.
Chibi Raito: And she'd be doing something slightly more productive in her spare time.
Me: Quiet, you.
Chibi L: It's true though, isn't it?
Me: This is the only way I know how to LIIIVE!
Chibi L: O.o
Me: I live for reading and writing FANFICTION! And I live for your reviewers! Thanks to every last one of you! You make me feel all nice and fluffy inside! Mwahaha!
Chibi Raito: o.O
Me: Mouahahahahaha!
Chibi Misa: 'Kay! Cutting to fanfiction in three, two…
Chibi L: Read, review, and relax.
Chibi Misa: Now!
D S 2
"So let me get this straight," Raito growled disbelievingly. He was Death? The Death? Kira, did he say? So he could just look at someone he hated and say 'die' and it would be done?
It was all too good to be true.
"Raito-san," groused the psychopomp, "You are Death. You decide who lives and who dies. It may seem impossible to comprehend, especially for you, but I assure you. It can be done."
He got the feeling that he should've been offended. Raito, however, was too preoccupied with more important matters. He heard the telltale rumbling of someone walking around. It was five thirty in the morning and Raito had already been caught once talking to his imaginary friend. He then learned that his parents were only planning to check up on him once that night.
Now it had changed to every half an hour.
Raito sighed.
He wasn't going to be able to go to school. He was going to miss his test. But what the hell. He had a fever and his parents thought he was a lunatic. He had an excuse.
The boy in the chair rolled his eyes and stopped twirling Raito's mechanical pencil. He set it back down on the desk and looked generally displeased as Raito's mother walked in.
"Raito, dear," she announced her presence quietly as she opened and closed the door to his room. He and the death god in the chair both looked over at her.
"Hm?" Raito croaked. God, did he sound awful. The invisible boy snorted at him.
"You're still awake?" she asked worriedly, "You've been awake all night. You poor boy." She took his temperature again.
Which really bothered him. Every time she stuck the thermometer into his mouth, the boy in his chair would snicker at him and tell him how goofy he looked. The worst part about it was that Raito could do absolutely nothing to stop him.
That sick fuck.
Kicking him while he was down…
"Your fever's gone down quite a bit," she observed when she scanned the thermometer.
"Has it?" Raito asked just to be polite. And his mother was very happy. "Yes," she said before making sure he was comfortable. Raito recognized this as her preparation for leaving the room. "We're taking you to the doctor's office at seven," she announced. "Your father and I want to make sure nothing happened to your brain. High fevers can do that."
Which Raito already knew.
"Try to get some sleep until then, okay dear?" She felt his forehead and mussed up his hair.
"Yes, dear," snickered the death god.
"I'll try," said Raito. He ignored the room's other occupant completely. His mom smiled. "Good night," she said.
Good morning, thought Raito
"Oh, Raito?" She peeked back into the room as soon as she had shut the door. He twisted his head around and looked at her. "Hm?"
"I thought I heard you talking to yourself again," she said.
Raito sighed. "I'm fine mom. You're hearing things."
Sachiko squinted at him for a while before deciding that her son could take care of himself. "If you say so. But try to get some sleep. You need to sleep. If you want anything at all, just call me. Your father and I will be downstairs."
"Ask for a Porsche," said the gangly thing in the chair.
"Alright mom," Raito sighed, "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
She shut his door with a soft click. Raito strained his ears to hear her padding down the stairs. As soon as her footsteps vanished, Raito's head snapped over to the other boy. He was bemusedly flicking the pencil back and forth on the desk.
"Listen, you…" Raito growled.
"Is your mother always this nice to you?" interrupted the death god. Raito sighed exasperatedly and melted into his blankets. Why him?
"You've asked your fair share of questions," the chair-dweller pointed out, "Is it wrong for me to ask one of you?"
"Yes."
"Yes it's wrong or yes she's always nice to you?"
"She's always nice to me."
"Mmm…" hummed the death god. He started twirling the pencil again. "You humans are strange."
Raito coughed, "I feel the same way about you."
"Ouch," said the death god.
Come to think of it, he had no way to refer to this thing except 'the death god,' 'he,' 'the boy in the chair,' et cetera. Did he have a name? Raito decided to ask him.
His eyes widened ever so slightly, then he let go of the pencil and started abusing his thumb again. Raito snorted. It wasn't a hard question. Maybe he really didn't have a name.
"Ryuzaki."
"Pardon?" said Raito.
"My name is Ryuzaki," the mini-death repeated.
Ryuzaki…
A decent name. It took him long enough to come up with it. Raito doubted it was real, but he didn't feel like badgering Ryuzaki any more than he already had.
Some other day, maybe.
Raito didn't bother telling Ryuzaki his name. He already knew it. He'd probably already known for a long time. He knew close to nothing about Ryuzaki. He knew nothing about death gods in general. In short, he felt that it was better to overestimate than it was to underestimate him.
"Hm," said Raito.
"You seem very fond of that 'Hm' of yours."
"Lay off."
"Lay off what?"
A very long sigh. Raito wasn't going to get any sleep. He had so many questions he wanted answered. And he absolutely knew none of them were going to be answered. Ryuzaki wasn't going to bother with him any more. He wasn't sure whether he'd be able to bother with the mini-death for much longer either.
Ryuzaki once again padded over to his bookshelf and examined it. He crouched down with that hunched back of his and squinted at row after row of books.
"Do you have any books that were written after the year two thousand?" he asked with a hand to his chin.
Raito arched one eyebrow. "Yeah. Why?"
"Looking at your shelf, I don't think there are any books I haven't read at least a hundred times."
"Ryuzaki, those are encyclopedias."
"Precisely."
Raito's eye twitched. It wasn't possible. He was now able to make an estimate as to how old Ryuzaki really was. Somewhere in the range of…
Five thousand years.
Human years.
Or more.
One couldn't possibly read the entire World Encyclopedia set from A to Z in one lifetime. Let alone one hundred lifetimes.
That bit of information alone was impossible.
"The two thousand five edition?" Raito confirmed carefully.
"Quite right," said Ryuzaki.
Like Raito thought earlier. It was impossible. If one couldn't read the several volumes of the letter 'A' in one year, yet Ryuzaki had read the entire set over a hundred times in one year…
"Just out of curiosity," Raito began, "does time happen to pass around ten thousand times slower in your world?"
Ryuzaki looked over his shoulder at him. The corner of his pale lips turned upward and his large eyes brightened considerably. He tilted his head to the side again, looking very thoughtful. "You catch on quite quickly, Raito-san."
Raito blinked. Was that a compliment?
"Time does pass… differently in my world. Or perhaps different in yours? In other worlds, time does not pass at all."
…Other worlds?
"We 'death gods,' as you say, do not get old very quickly," said Ryuzaki. He made an approving noise before deftly pulling out a rather small book from Raito's other un-destroyed bookshelf. "I suppose this will do. I've only read it nine hundred and eighty nine times."
With that, he perched on the chair again, curling his toes around the seat as he normally did. Raito watched in rapt fascination the way Ryuzaki insisted on reading his book. He pinched the binding with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. When he wasn't busy turning pages with his free hand, he kept it near his lips where he could chew on his thumb if he wanted. He shifted his weight onto one foot and itched his leg with the other, then set them both near the edge of the chair again.
How odd.
"I appreciate the attention, Raito-san, but your father is coming up the stairs."
Raito scoffed. What a nice way to tell someone that he was staring. Raito was not staring. He didn't want it to seem like Ryuzaki had won, but he didn't want his dad to walk in on him and catch him by surprise either. He rolled onto his side and pretended he was asleep.
He heard his father hover around the door, as if wondering whether or not he'd like what he saw, then he heard the door open with a click. Directly after, Raito had a very bad feeling. It was the feeling one felt when he knew something was wrong, but had no idea what it was. A strange fluttering of the stomach, 'Oh shit,' sort of feeling.
Then he found out why.
His father couldn't see Ryuzaki. But he could definitely see the book.
Shit.
Of course, if luck was with him that night, which it most certainly wasn't,Raito's dad wouldn't be looking that way. He stood at the doorway for a long time. Then he started walking toward the desk. Raito's heart pounded. Oh shit. He was looking at the floating book. Raito had to open one eye.
His father was currently examining the book, but it was sitting on the desk. Not in the air.
Oh thank God.
"You didn't think I'd be that stupid, did you?" said Ryuzaki, who was currently perched just out of his immediate range of sight on his footboard. Raito had to muster up all of his strength to keep from sighing with relief.
Soichiro wandered back over to the fake-sleeping form of his son and ruffled up his hair. Then he stood in the same place for a few seconds. Raito willed him out of the room. And there he went. The door clicked shut behind him and Raito stayed completely still.
"Fast asleep," he heard his father mutter.
"Quite a family you have," remarked Ryuzaki. He shimmied back over to his chair and retrieved his book. Raito groaned at him and rolled over in his bed. "I wish I were asleep," he muttered.
He then buried his head in a pillow and tried to suffocate himself.
----
L found the brunette's antics infinitely amusing. The Great Kira had completely disregarded the bag of ice and was now rolling around with his face in his pillow, trying to asphyxiate himself to sleep. Perhaps while Raito was occupied, L could search and destroy another cookie or two. He wondered where his family kept them all.
Come seven o-clock and Raito had succeeded in putting himself to sleep. L knew not whether he had done it by suffocation or exhaustion. Nevertheless, he looked very happy.
His parents walked in not long after. It was peculiar, the way they stood there hesitating. L knew they were debating whether or not to awaken the son of theirs who had tried so fervently and desperately to put himself to sleep. In the end, they woke him up. He grumbled once, pushed his mother's hand away, and rolled over the first time. The second, they all but jabbed him in the side and he was wide awake.
He glanced at L. Most likely confirming that he did exist and that Raito wasn't hallucinating after all. Upon seeing L again, he grumbled and growled before making himself look busy.
Kira didn't like him all that much.
How droll.
His parents shoved him out the door and into the car. L contemplated accompanying this new Kira to the doctor's office. He never did like doctors. Needles either. Just thinking about them made his toes tingle.
On the other hand, L didn't want anything to happen to Raito.
Since Raito was the new Death.
That was all.
He had no idea what could possibly go wrong. That required his divine intervention, anyway. Most of the worst-case scenarios could be easily fixed.
Nothing incredibly bad was likely to happen. So why did L get a funny feeling that something bad would happen? L's instincts had never tried to take him down a dark alley and mug him, so what would be the harm in trusting them?
He trotted toward the car, only to have the door slammed in his face by a very coolly indifferent Raito Yagami. L glared pointedly at him for a moment or two before demonstrating to Raito that what he had done was completely pointless. He crawled straight through the closed door and into the seat just beside the offending Yagami boy.
Raito made no move to notice him, and L didn't mind. After all, he had a façade to keep up.
The 'perfectly normal' façade.
With an exhausted rumble, the car lurched forward and they were on their way. L amused himself by resting his head on his arms against the window and peering out. He had a perfect view of the outside, because he had no reflection to get in his way.
And that was good.
He glanced over his shoulder to find that Raito was doing the same, through the other window. He wasn't looking out the window though. L could see in the glass that Raito's dark brown eyes were staying in one spot.
L hummed thoughtfully to himself.
Why was it that humans were so raptly fascinated with their own reflections?
Raito paid him no heed. Just continued staring at himself. L wondered whether he was narcissistic or just bored.
Probably both.
L wondered if he'd like his own reflection. Probably not. He never found himself particularly attractive. Then L made a face. Come to think of it, finding oneself attractive was the strangest thing he'd thought of yet.
He gazed over his shoulder where Raito was sitting in the same spot, doing the same thing.
Humans were really weird.
Several minutes later, the car stopped. L had since become extremely uninterested in the view from the back seat. So much so that he'd phased halfway into the floor of the car and begun to tinker with the transmission.
Raito's mother made an attempt at polite conversation with her son. He ignored her though. Well, he didn't completely ignore her. He'd nod here or comment there. L could tell he wasn't listening though.
L cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. Was Raito always this moody in the morning? His lack of sleep probably contributed to it. That and his fever.
L never slept. Once or twice perhaps. He found it to be unproductive and bothersome. Dreams were the most bothersome. Nightmares even more so. L absolutely knew he'd never go outside without any pants on.
The doctor's office was like any other. There was a fish tank against the wall. The room was rank with deceptively comfortable looking chairs and prints of fading artwork. In the dead center of the waiting room was an enclosed area composed of a desk, filing cabinets, meticulously kept files, and a roll of cheap stickers.
What clinic could go without a roll of cheap stickers?
L searched the room for a worthy chair on which he could sit. He found one against the far wall. The upholstery was the hospital-standard dull green plastic leather. It was surrounded by several other chairs, all of which shared the same boring outfit.
Needless to say, L wasn't very happy. He put up with it though. A chair was a chair.
While his parents chatted away with the woman at the reception desk, Raito wandered over to L and fell into the chair right next to him. He stretched on his back and lay there for a minute. Then he reached both arms behind his head and looked over at L.
"Have a nice nap?" asked L uninterestedly.
"No," said Raito in a low voice.
L chewed on his thumb.
"Listen, I want to talk to you," Raito whispered.
"I'm listening," stated L.
"Go over to the other side of that fish tank over there." Raito said, pointing to the fish tank on the other side of the room with one elbow.
Ah, L knew what he was getting at. He padded over to the fish tank, curled his toes around the edge of the cushion, and waited.
Raito stretched on his back again, yawned, and then became suddenly interested in the tiny, orange goldfish in the fish tank. He took his sweet time moseying over in L's direction before he finally flopped into the chair on the other side of the glass. He stared bemusedly into the water, following whatever fish he could catch with his eyes.
"So, do people your age normally talk to fish?" L asked with his thumb between his teeth.
"It's better than talking to the ceiling," Raito reasoned.
"True," admitted L. He sighed. He knew exactly what Raito was going to rant about. He didn't want to hear it.
I'm Death?
Like, seriously?
Hah hah.
----
"So, how exactly do I kill people?" asked Raito.
He'd been wondering all morning. Even when he was asleep, he had a dream about killing someone. Unluckily for him, he couldn't remember how he'd done it. He also wondered that, if he killed someone, would he be a murderer? No. Of course not. If he was Death, everything he did would be justified.
But…
Ryuzaki leaned back in his chair and blinked his panda eyes. He was still chewing on his thumb, as if debating whether or not to tell him. "Are you sure you want to know?"
No.
"Yes," said Raito.
"Mmmm…" hummed the mini-death. "You're not sure," he argued.
Raito blinked. Was he that obvious? He did want to know, of course. He just wasn't sure… oh hell. He was confusing himself.
"You snap your fingers," said Ryuzaki absently.
…What?
His amazement must've shown clearly on his face. Ryuzaki grinned at him and tilted his head again. "Easy, isn't it?" he said.
"Yeah," said Raito.
Ryuzaki's grin changed. His eyes narrowed somewhat, he nibbled on his thumb, tilted his head the other way, and hummed.
Had Raito said something wrong?
"You have only to think of or look at the person you want to kill, then snap the fingers on your right hand. It's very simple," said the mini-death.
Raito frowned. There was something Ryuzaki wasn't telling him. There had to be more to it than that. Raito had snapped his fingers on his right hand before and nothing happened. Strange. "That's it?" he asked carefully.
Ryuzaki's gaze became even more focused. "Yes," he said. He was gnawing on his nails now. Raito swore he couldn't understand anything Ryuzaki did. Just then, his black eyes sparkled and he smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth. "Care to give it a try?"
Raito was taken aback. That was too bold. Was Ryuzaki challenging him? He narrowed his eyes and scowled.
Of course he could do it. He was Death.
Kira.
"Raito, honey?"
Raito snapped his head to the side. His mother and father were just about to follow a nurse through yet another door. Raito sighed, fixed Ryuzaki in place with a warning glare, and followed them.
Raito spared the mini-death one last glance before he left. He was still perched on the chair, just behind the fish tank, chewing on his thumb, and staring peculiarly at him with those gigantic, black, laughing eyes of his.
Raito let him laugh.
----
This Kira was indeed very interesting. So that was what he'd been so moody about? He wanted to know how to perform his job. He was very capable of snapping his fingers, but could he go through with it?
He seemed confident enough in himself. At the same time, L knew that there was something tugging at the back of his mind and telling him that it was wrong.
And it was called a conscience.
L despised the human conscience. It got in the way of everything. At the same time, humans were so screwy: If they didn't have that nagging little hindrance, they'd most likely have made themselves extinct by then.
Hmm…
Maybe that was what he had been so anxious about earlier. Raito was going to kill somebody to prove to himself that it wasn't all that bad. L needed to keep an eye on him.
He slid out of his chair and wandered over to the closed door. He passed straight through it and peered into the hall beyond. There were doors scattered here and there, and the stark white corridors seemed to lead to everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
L rolled his eyes.
Lovely.
He'd have one hell of a time looking for Raito in that mess.
One by one, he explored the doors. He stuck his face in, looked around, then muttered and withdrew when he didn't find who he was looking for. He found two little girls, two mothers, one janitor, three doctors, and a fat guy in an orange sweater.
No Raito.
He peeked into another room.
There was no one there.
L took the time to breathe a heavy sigh of exasperation. He was never going to find Raito at this rate.
Just then, the room got darker. L realized that there was a window in the room.
And there was something blocking it.
He glanced up and froze. There in the window, squinting in at him, was a very ugly, very skinny, very unwelcome shinigami.
Oh, fuck.
It saw him and flew away from the window in a flash. L immediately pulled himself out of the door and jogged down the hall. Wherever that shinigami was headed, that was where Raito was. L was sure of it.
They were after him.
They had been after the other Kira too. Selfish bastards. Since he had choked on that muffin, the human world had been a virtual smorgasbord for shinigami.
A buffet.
They gorged themselves on human life.
When the old Kira was alive, a shinigami could barely support itself with the souls he left behind. Currently, a shinigami could pick out any human it wanted and kill it. L understood that it was quite boring.
However, the need to survive was apparently outweighing boredom at this point.
Still, why would a shinigami bother to come down to the human world when they could track and kill Raito from above? Something was amiss here. A lot was amiss here.
L needed to find Raito.
"Raito-san!" L called, knowing full well that Raito couldn't respond even if he did hear. The fact of the matter was that L was panicking.
It was a very un-L thing to do.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of something bumping into a wall. Then a 'pardon me,' and then a mess of mumbling. L stopped and listened. A door even further down the hall swung open and who should step out of it, but Raito.
"I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom," he lied to the occupants of the room. Then he nodded and closed the door.
"Raito-san!" L yelled, waving one arm. Raito walked past another doctor, who just happened to be inconveniently roaming the halls, then made a slight motion with his arm.
Raito wanted L to follow him. L trotted over to him just as he took a left into yet another corridor.
"What is it?" he mumbled under his breath.
"I looked everywhere for you," stated L, slightly more at ease.
"Whatever," grumbled Raito. He glanced over at L. "You seem anxious."
"Yes," said L. Before Raito could make a smart comment about it, L explained. "You need to leave, now."
Raito was very quiet.
He stopped in the middle of the hall suddenly, much to L's surprise, and let his eyes rove the premises. Looking for bystanders and cameras maybe? He speed-walked over to a nondescript door.
A broom closet.
"I think they keep an emergency pair of keys in the broom closet in case someone gets locked in. Could you go in there and unlock it from the inside?"
"Sure," said L.
A secret, secluded place to talk. The closet was down quite a remote section of the hallway. There wasn't a single doctor in sight. Raito knew what he was doing.
L walked through the door, flipped on a light switch, and searched the shelves for an extra set of keys. In a short time, he found the keys in a little drawer with a few blank office documents, extra pencils, and a laser pointer.
The use of the laser pointer was a mystery to L.
Nevertheless, he picked the key out of the drawer and jammed it in the lock. "It's open," L announced.
The doorknob turned and Raito shut himself in. L seated himself on top of a plastic cabinet while Raito listened with an ear to the door, just to make sure the coast was clear.
"As I said before," L began, "I think you need to leave-"
"I saw something outside the window."
"So you can see them too? I suppose I should've known that," L said thoughtfully to himself.
"What was it?" Raito asked urgently.
"A shinigami."
"Shinigami? Aren't you a death god though?"
"Of the sort, yes."
"So this is what you meant when you said 'other worlds,' isn't it?" Raito exclaimed.
"Did I say that?" L asked with a thumb to his teeth.
"You did," said Raito.
"Mmm…" said L.
Raito took a deep breath and closed his eyes. L watched. Poor human. He looked bushed. "So what do they do, exactly?" he sighed.
L gazed sympathetically at him. Raito was exhausted. His fever had probably set in again. L explained, "Basically, Raito-san, they kill people."
Raito dug his nails into his eyelids. "I thought I killed people."
The corner of L's lips quirked upward. "Yes. There's a catch."
"There's always a catch."
L grinned. He found Raito Yagami quite funny when he was tired. "Would you rather hear the details now or later? You need a rest. What's more, won't your parents suspect something if you're gone too long?"
Raito sighed. He pushed himself off the wall and unlocked the door again. He tossed the keys into the air and L caught them. He locked the door after Raito deemed it safe to walk out. Then he dropped the keys back into their drawer and said his final farewell to the useless laser pointer. He morphed through the door and followed Raito down the hall.
"I suppose I'll be staying with you then," L announced. "What are they doing to you anyway? The doctors?" His eyes twitched at the possibilities.
"Asking me questions," said Raito.
L sighed with relief. "I despise doctors," he said, voice dripping with disdain. Needles and pills and cotton balls… Raito nodded and muttered under his breath, "So do I."
They wandered through the halls and soon stopped at the door from which Raito had come. "I'm back," Raito announced, slamming the door behind him. L's lips twitched. Raito had to stop shutting the damn door in his face.
He walked through it anyway and peered at all the people in the room. A doctor was sitting in the corner by a desk and a filing cabinet. With a file folder in one hand and a ball-point pen in the other, he made himself look very busy. Raito's parents were sitting in their respective chairs and Raito sat down in the one next to them.
"You certainly took long enough," said his father.
"I got lost," shrugged Raito.
"Yes, well," the doctor made himself known, "We've established that you had a very high fever for possibly a prolonged amount of time. And that you hallucinated about a spider?"
"Person."
"Ah. Person."
"He looked like a spider, though."
"I see."
L perched on the floor next to Raito and fixed his gaze on the window. There was something lurking there, he could feel it. But why was it staying outside? Perhaps it was because L was there. Maybe it was a novice shinigami, if such a thing existed.
Or maybe it was already in the building, watching and listening.
Waiting.
L made himself comfortable. Two could play the waiting game. He wasn't about to abandon Raito and look for it, lest it decide that it wanted to take advantage Raito's unguarded status.
----
"Well!" the doctor exclaimed, "It would appear that you're doing fine." He turned to Raito's parents, who were quite visibly relieved, "No long-term brain damage that I can tell. I suggest you give him some fever reducers and let him stay in bed a while."
Raito blew a puff of air and let his head fall back against the wall. His parents would be happy now, but when they walked in on him talking to Ryuzaki again, that would be a different story. Of course, they could've paid more money to have a more accurate test done to see whether or not he was, indeed, a complete nutcase. But they wanted immediate results, and Raito quite liked it that way.
And who knew? Maybe he was crazy! The idea that he was Death and that there were supernatural beings out to get him was pretty far-fetched.
He glanced down at Ryuzaki, who had his black-rimmed eyes trained on the window. Maybe the mini-death was all in his head. Maybe it was all an elaborate hoax his mind was playing on him.
Well, there was one way to find out…
Ryuzaki trotted just beside him as he stalked out the hospital doors. His eyes darted right and left, too preoccupied with locating that shinigami to notice much. He supposed that with Ryuzaki on the lookout, he was safe to pick out someone to try his wonderful new powers out on.
…
He was looking and…
He wasn't seeing. Rather, he didn't want to see. He couldn't just kill anyone he wanted right off the bat. It had to be someone who deserved to die. Some criminal…
Like one on television.
Bingo.
He'd heard his father talking that morning about a man holed up in an office building in Yokohama with about twelve hostages. He'd shot two people dead and left two others injured.
A fitting guinea pig.
When Raito got home, he announced that he wanted to watch TV on the sofa. His parents consented and Ryuzaki gave him a peculiar look. Sure, Raito couldn't talk to Ryuzaki when not in the privacy of his room, but Ryuzaki could still talk to him.
"It was following you home," the death god said. "I could see it circling the car from out the back window."
"Hmmm…" Raito breathed, wanting it to sound like he was tired. He closed his eyes and yawned. Ryuzaki went on.
"Yes, I see. I'll just talk to you then, shall I?"
Yaaaawwwwnnnn…
"Good. I don't think it wants to hurt you, Raito-san. If it did, it would've done it by now. I think it's following you. Getting close to the enemy."
Ah. Raito sighed again and turned over. He snatched the remote up in his hand and clicked the television on. The news wasn't on until later, but Raito saw no harm in watching TV anyway.
"Which is strange," Ryuzaki pressed on, "because if it wanted to track you, it could've easily done it from its own world."
For excitement then.
"I can understand that," mumbled Raito into a pillow once his parents were both out of the room.
"What was that, honey?"
Damn.
"I said I want a glass of water!" he fibbed.
"Good cover," said Ryuzaki.
Seconds later, his mom appeared in the room with a glass of water for him. And a handful of pills.
Joy.
He gulped it all down, not realizing how thirsty he was until then. Ryuzaki pinched his face together and stuck out his tongue, making a disgusted 'bleh' sound. "Thanks," Raito said. His mom smiled and returned to wherever she had been before.
"How could you swallow all those pills?" asked Ryuzaki like Raito had just swallowed a sword. He recognized it as a rhetorical question and stretched back out on the sofa.
And God, was it comfortable. He could get used to this whole 'getting a life-threatening fever and staying home from school' business. Ryuzaki was still chatting away about how grossly impractical pills were, but Raito had the TV to drown him out.
His mom came in at some point in time and asked him if he wanted anything to eat. Raito wasn't hungry though, and Ryuzaki was gazing at him like a vulture. So he sighed and said "Cookies," and the cookie-vore hummed his thanks.
His dad had gone to work. Sachiko went out not long after. To run some errands or something, then to pick Sayu up from school. And she had her cellular phone on in case he needed to contact her. Just after the car rolled out of sight, Ryuzaki wolfed down a cookie.
"Tell your sister to make more of these, Raito-san," he commanded.
"Sure," Raito grumbled with his eyes closed.
His lack of sleep was catching up to him.
With that, the Great Death pillowed his head on his arms and fell asleep.
----
L munched on a cookie. Hot damn, was it good! So chewy and sweet and doughy and chocolaty all at the same time! L's sweet tooth was in heaven. He shoveled another cookie into his mouth.
"Have you even tried one of these, Raito-san?" Ryuzaki asked, spitting bits of cookie crumbs all over the place.
No answer.
L glanced down from his spot on the arm of the sofa. "Raito-san?"
Raito was completely silent. His eyes were closed, his head was resting comfortably against his arms, his pink lips were parted slightly, and his breaths came slow and even. If L listened closely, he could hear Raito's heart beating. Easy and steady.
He was fast asleep.
L hadn't known the last Kira very well. He hadn't liked him. He was a bit of a loudmouth.
He knew someone who did, though. A friend. Who, L used to joke, was completely infatuated with him. He didn't like that very much. L knew it was true though. It was something he'd told him when he was drunk.
He used to say that the time Kira was his most magnificent was when he slept.
Ryuzaki sneezed, blinked, and then bit a king-sized hole in another cookie.
Well, that thought had certainly come from left field. He had known Raito for what, a day? Not even that. Besides, this Kira hadn't even proven himself useful yet. Ryuzaki knew nothing about him. He was just concerned as an acquaintance. It was friendly attention.
L never was one to become attached at first sight. Especially with humans. Raito was going to be the future dictator of L's realm, so he supposed he was only getting to know him. It gave him an edge over everyone else. An advantage.
Yes.
Still, as logical as sleep was, it had never crossed his mind that Kira would allow himself to become that vulnerable. Kira was supposed to be a god. An idol. Yet to see him asleep and completely unaware of everything around him made him much more…
Well…
Human.
L wasn't sure what to make of it. He regarded Raito a moment longer before deciding that the television would be a much more worthy object of his attention. Some game show or something… Anyway, it was much more lively and interesting than a sleeping Raito Yagami.
You bet.
He snatched a cookie from the rapidly emptying plate and stuffed it in his mouth. Just when L was getting the hang of said TV show, the screen blinked to commercials.
He crossed his eyes, knitted his eyebrows together, and pouted. "Bah," he said, wondering if he should change the channel. His hand hovered over the remote.
Naw. Raito had turned the television to this channel for a reason. Change it, and L would face the wrath of a grumpy, hungry, sleep-deprived Kira.
Hah. He could see it now. Devil-Raito stomping around the house, eyes glowing, infernal flames spewing from his lips. All because L changed the channel.
A painful end, L was sure.
The television blipped back to the aforementioned game show and L rejoiced. Two minutes in, and something caught his attention.
A shadow flicked across the room. L secretly looked over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of something moving from the corner of his eye. He jabbed another cookie into his mouth and acted preoccupied with the TV, all the while keeping the shadow on his radar.
He glanced back down at Raito, who was still fast asleep. Then he shifted his eyes over to the creeping darkness at the far side of the room.
It was getting closer.
Circling.
L snorted. He debated whether or not to announce the fact that he knew it was there. If it knew it had been spotted, it would leave Raito alone. On the other hand, L could keep tabs on it if it stayed.
It started to hover on its silent black wings. L noted that it looked like it had wired a dead vulture onto its back. He imagined he wasn't far from the truth.
As it got closer, L was able to get a good look at it. It had a black body, but a head that looked like it had been lopped off and replaced with a lumpy, plastic, grocery bag with dead grass sprouting from the top. Buggy eyes, even buggier than L's own, bulged from their sockets and clumsy, oversized lips puffed out from underneath what L assumed to be a very skeletal nose. His toes curled and he bit his lip to keep from gagging.
It had long, thin limbs and a bony body covered in belts and bits of black rubbish.
Hah.
L never knew he could use so many 'b's in one sentence.
All in all, it was a disgusting sight to behold.
It seemed rather dull-witted as well. It paid L absolutely no attention. Just hovered closer. Come to think of it, it didn't seem like it wanted to remain unseen any longer. It would do well to have a large, neon sign across its chest. Complete with bright green blinking arrows and text that said 'I am here.'
It also wasn't making any move to harm Raito in any way. It was just watching. As it got too close, L thought he'd make himself known.
"What do you want?" he spat.
It looked at him with a drawn out and generally interested "Hmmmmm?" It glanced back down at Raito, who was still completely out. "Just looking," it said as if Raito were a piece of merchandise in a department store window.
"I can hardly believe that," L said as he took a bite of another cookie.
"Really," It said calmly. It turned its bulging eyes down again. "Somebody said there was a new Kira. Had to come see for myself." He shuffled his feet and stared for another minute. "So it's true, eh? This oughta' put the spice back into life," it hummed nostalgically before turning its ugly head to L again.
"You got any apples?"
The shinigami didn't want any trouble. Where was the harm in letting him have an apple? L chewed on another cookie and pointed a disinterested finger to the kitchen. The shinigami floated into the kitchen. Seconds later, L heard a telltale crunching noise and knew that the shinigami had found what it was looking for.
"By the way," it said, poking its head back into view, "I'm Ryuk. Who're you?"
"Ryuzaki," said L.
"Hmmmmm…" droned the shinigami. It walked out of the kitchen with an armful of apples. "I guess I'll be going now," it announced, taking one last look at Raito. "Kind of a scrawny little thing, ain't he?" it said with a chunk of apple in its mouth.
"Who the fuck are you calling scrawny?"
It quirked an eyebrow at him. L blinked.
He hadn't said anything.
L glanced down at the sofa to see a dangerously pissed-off Kira glaring daggers at the both of them.
----
The nerve!
Raito had been awake for a full five minutes. Ryuzaki had curled his toes rather tightly around the arm of the chair, and the folds of the couch had caught a piece of Raito's hair along with it. He had been rather rudely awakened by the resulting tug. He wanted to give Ryuzaki a piece of his mind, but he noticed just then that there were two voices in the room. So he decided to stay silent.
That last comment did it though. Raito's nerves snapped and now he was very angry.
To think!
Scrawny!
Raito was the best-looking guy he knew. And what was this malnourished, ugly monster doing dissing him? He was no prize himself. Ryuk, was it? Damn stupid name too.
Raito was still tired, and through no fault of his own, he was awake. He was cranky, groggy, and he desperately wanted to ring someone's neck.
Be it Ryuzaki's or Ryuk's.
The mini-death was slowly creeping away from him and the shinigami, which was by far the ugliest thing he had ever seen, was staring at him with those dumb eyes of his.
Thinking back, Raito would've been scared shitless by the way the shinigami was looking at him. Presently though, Raito could care less. All he knew was that he wanted to rip Ryuk's head off and throw it across the room.
"Where do you get off saying I'm scrawny? I'll kick your ass!" Raito spat. He grabbed onto the back of the couch and threw himself over. The shinigami stepped back.
That's right.
Raito imagined himself to be quite intimidating.
Ryuk zoomed in on Raito. He leaned in until he was right in the fuming Raito's face. "Hmmmm? You aren't afraid of me?" he asked stupidly.
"Like hell," growled Raito.
He leaned in even closer. "You're interesting," he said.
"I think it's about time you left," said Ryuzaki disdainfully. Ryuk's gigantic fish-eyes rolled over to the side, then back. "I suppose so," he said, blowing a puff of stale air into Raito's face. He backed off, crunched on another apple, and walked away. "Later," he said with a wave.
Both Ryuzaki and Raito watched him go. Soon, the room was filled with nothing but the sound of laughter on the television. Good. The damn thing was gone. Now if he could only find a way to get back to sleep!
"I must admit, Raito-san, I'm surprised."
Raito glowered in Ryuzaki's general direction. The mini-death munched his last cookie and curled his toes around the arm of the sofa. "Judging from your reaction to me, you should've acted slightly more alarmed and less confident about that shinigami." He habitually chewed on his thumb and gazed off into the distance.
Did Raito give a shit what Ryuzaki thought?
No.
"You woke me up," he said.
Ryuzaki gave him a peculiar look. "Did I?"
"Yes," hissed Raito.
"Ah," Ryuzaki nodded, "Forgive me, Raito-san."
"You pulled my hair with those damn toes of yours."
"Again, Raito-san, I apologize. I was unaware that-"
"You woke me up."
"Yes, I see. Now if you'd let me explain-"
"You pulled my hair."
"Yes, Raito-san."
"You woke me up."
Ryuzaki rolled his eyes skyward and sighed. Through with talking, Raito grumbled and re-positioned himself on the couch. God, he was so tired. It was awfully cold though. He needed a blanket.
Well wasn't that dandy? The mighty Death needed a blankie. Dear God.
Raito sighed and hefted himself off of the couch again. He stomped up the stairs to his room, very aware that a pair of black-rimmed eyes were following his every move. He shut his door behind him and rummaged around for a blanket. He ended up taking one off of his bed and carrying a pillow down with it.
He blew straight past a cookie-less Ryuzaki, tossed the pillow on the couch, and then fell into the cushions. He tucked the blanket around himself and buried half of his face in it.
He lay there for a minute, and then Raito's worst nightmare happened.
He started to think.
That shinigami, Ryuk. What had been his true motive for following him around all day? Did he have a motive at all? Raito had caught the part of the conversation between Ryuk and Ryuzaki in which the shinigami explained that he was there to 'see for himself.'
Raito didn't know exactly what he meant, but he filed the shinigami's name and hideous face away for further reference.
He became aware of a sudden shuffling about outside of his comfortable cocoon. He peeked out to find that L had since moved from his spot at the arm of the sofa near Raito's head. He was now on the other end of the sofa, perched on the opposite arm and staring into nothing.
Raito sighed and ducked under the blanket again. Ryuzaki was trying to avoid accidentally pulling his hair a second time.
How considerate.
The time in which Sayu and Raito's mother were coming home was drawing closer. Raito knew that if he channel-surfed long enough, he would be able to find a channel that played nothing but news, but if all this nonsense really wasn't in his head, he wanted his family there to confirm it.
If a tree falls in the middle of a forest, and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Something along those lines.
If the criminal was the tree, and Raito was the forest, and that tree fell when he was alone with nothing but his imagination, Raito had no immediate proof that he wasn't making it all up.
Of course, he could have made his parents up too, but… Well. He had to have some way to tell whether or not he was imagining things. He could ask for favors right and left. Like food. There was nothing more real than food.
Cookies.
Sure, they would spoil his appetite, but he wasn't going to be the one eating them. Well, maybe one or two. Just to prove that they were real and he wasn't seeing things. Then, when he was sure of himself, he'd kill the bastard in the office building.
Raito heard the sound of a key being twisted around a lock. Then he heard the squeaking of a door being pushed forcefully open. Not long after came the cheerful cry of, "Raito-kun! We're home! Hope you're still alive!"
Ah, Sayu and her sense of humor.
"She's worried about you," remarked Ryuzaki, who was still occupying the far end of the couch. Raito rolled his eyes.
Just then, Sayu swung around that end of the couch and pounced on him.
Which was odd.
She didn't pay any attention to Ryuzaki at all.
But… Raito thought…
"She can't see me either," Ryuzaki informed him. "You are the only human who can."
So, last night, when she asked him what was in the chair, it was just…
A rhetorical question?
God damn!
Raito groaned, shoved his fingers into his eyes, and rolled over in agony. He felt the beginnings of an elephant-sized migraine coming on. Sayu scurried off of the couch. "Raito, are you okay? I'm sorry!"
Sachiko, who had been in mother-hen mode all morning, flew to Raito's aid. "What's wrong?" she asked urgently. Raito grumbled and massaged his temples. "Just a headache," he said.
Much to Raito's dismay, she looked horrified. "Raito, have you gotten yourself a glass of water since I left?" she stammered.
Ugh. That was right. He could have gotten a headache from not drinking enough water. Could have. That wasn't the reason he had one, but it would make his mom happy since she could cure it. What was more, if she gave him a nice, refreshing glass of water, Raito could prove her real. "No, I haven't," Raito admitted.
"I'll be right back," she huffed. Then she raced into the kitchen and raced back out with the promised glass of water. Raito took it from her. The glass was nice and cold, and when he drank it, the cool water running down his throat definitely felt real enough.
Now for Sayu. She had already fallen onto him earlier and knocked the wind out of him, but a little verification wouldn't hurt. "Could you get me some more of those cookies you made, Sayu?" he asked politely.
Ryuzaki perked up instantly and gazed at Raito's little sister like she had just turned into a giant, pink, glazed doughnut. Sayu smiled. "Sure!" she said, "Do you really like my cookies that much? Are they that good?"
Ryuzaki nodded his head feverishly.
"Yeah," said Raito, "They're pretty good."
Sayu beamed at him and scampered into the kitchen. She came back with a plastic bowl full of cookies.
He glanced at Ryuzaki, who was practically raping the poor, innocent bowl of sweets with his eyes. "Here!" squeaked Sayu as she shoved the bowl under Raito's nose. Raito picked one out, the one with the least chocolate sprinkles, and bit a chunk out of it.
Hmmm… Tasted like a cookie. Felt like a cookie. Smelled like a cookie. Looked like a cookie. And judging by the way Ryuzaki was squealing at the other side of the couch, it sounded like a cookie too. Just the way he remembered before last night. The same cookies that Sayu always made.
Raito took another satisfied bite out of the cookie and finished it off.
"Save me some!" commanded Ryuzaki.
Raito ignored him. A live news bulletin had interrupted the rather bland TV show he wasn't watching. Huh. What news report could have been important enough to 'interrupt his scheduled programming?' The Yokohama hostage thing? Maybe he'd get lucky.
An interesting change.
"We're sorry to interrupt your-" blah, blah, blah! Raito wanted them to get to the point! Was this or wasn't this an important announcement about the Yokohama hostage case?
"Impatient, aren't you?" droned Ryuzaki.
"Ooh! I wonder if they caught that guy yet!" Said Sayu excitedly.
Raito listened very carefully. The man had shot two more of his hostages as a demonstration to the police, then had shot and killed three policemen while he was at it. As an additional threat, he added that he'd planted bombs all around the building and had the detonator in his hand. The emergency report had been to warn civilians to stay away from the area. How disgusting. He had to go.
"Just snap your fingers, Raito-san," the mini-death hummed, "The world's watching."
Raito waited.
"That's horrible!" screeched Sayu, "how could he do such a thing? I don't think I can watch anymore!" she stormed out of the room and to her mom, who she harped to about all the injustice in the world.
Perfect.
He was all alone, and the television had cut to a live broadcast from the scene of the crime. Raito was all set. As the reporter was talking, a picture of the killer popped up on the screen.
He could see Ryuzaki out of the corner of his eye, nibbling on his thumb in anticipation. Let him watch. Raito was Kira. It was his right to kill whoever he deemed despicable. This man had killed seven innocent people. He deserved to die. Raito was very capable of making that happen.
He was Death.
The destroyer of worlds.
He glared at the picture on the screen, mustered up all the hatred he had for this man, and then snapped.
The reporter continued talking, the camera continued rolling, and life went on as usual.
Nothing happened.
Discouraged, Raito sank back in his seat. Had he done something wrong? He knew there was something more to it. Damn Ryuzaki didn't tell him everything! He shut his eyes tightly and hissed. Sayu came padding back into the room, saying something about how bad people could be.
"A sad, sad day for us all," lamented the anchorman, "If nothing is done to stop him, the killing will go on. Now back to… what? What is it!?" Raito's eyes opened with a snap. He shot up in the couch, making Sayu jump.
The man on the screen was talking urgently into his headset and someone else was handing him more papers.
"It would appear that the hostages are coming out of the building! Yes, they are leaving the building!"
Could it be?
The reporter was back, blabbering into his microphone. The screen jumped all over the place as the cameraman ran to keep up with him. Sure enough, Raito caught a glimpse of six very frightened hostages scurrying out of the glass doors of the office building.
"The police have not shot him! The have not shot him! The escapees are saying that he just dropped dead! This is amazing!"
Amazing…
"And the great Kira claims his first victim," mused Ryuzaki.
Ryuzaki was right. The great Kira. Raito Yagami. He had always wanted to be influential. To change the world. That was why, until just then, he had thought of a job in law enforcement. His father always said that his sense of justice would make him a fine lawyer. Or a detective or something.
But this was power. Power to punish the unjust with just a snap of the fingers.
He stared emptily at the television. The police had confirmed that the detonator he waved at them earlier was a controller for a military simulation computer game he had stolen from an office, not a detonation device.
And that he was stone cold dead.
Raito's right hand began to shake. A coincidence? No. No, that was impossible. He had done just as Ryuzaki said, and the criminal on the television had died.
This wasn't just power over law.
This was power over life.
----
Chibi Misa: And the plot thickens!
Me: Yay plot! I love plots!
Chibi Raito: I love me!
Chibi L: I love me too!
Me: Aww, thanks guys! You make me feel special!
Chibi Raito: You're really dumb, you know that?
Chibi L: Liek Omg srsly.
Chibi Misa: Rotflol!!!
Me: Yeah. Anyway, like? Don't like? Review!
Chibi L: For c00kies!
Chibi Misa: And it's true that authors only know so much. If you find something horribly, terribly WRONG, tell Swirly. She only knows so much about Japanese culture.
Me: Despite the fact that I read about it in manga all the time.
Chibi Misa: Yeah. She's just your typical dumb American. Sit back, type a sentence or two, and have a cookie.
Chibi L: I like a cookie…
Chibi Misa: Review, review, review!