Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.
Moka-girl: Thanks so much for reviewing! You have no idea how much it meant to me to read it. I didn't think anyone was going to review. I'm hoping to keep it interesting. I'm attempting to focus all my muse on this fic…which is hard with school and all. You'd be right: B isn't dead in my story. The LABB case did happen; B just staged his death. He's done it before. The only reason he got caught was because he didn't give Naomi enough credit…he didn't over or underestimate anyone this time. Even criminals learn their lesson.
I wanna heal. I wanna feel what I thought was never real.
I want to let go of the pain I've felt so long.
Aimi's eye twitched as she stared, disdainfully, at Rue who was already digging into the fresh jam she had just bought. He hadn't even bothered to wait for it to cool some in their fridge. She hated it, with a passion that could fuel a thousand suns, when he ate it warm. It looked like blood, and Rue was never the neatest eater in the planet. He was sloppy, and it was getting all over his black t-shirt.
"Rue, that's sick." She informed him, turning and organizing the fruit she had bought for easy access. After she did that, continuing to ignore Rue because he was now slurping and making moaning noises, she organized the fridge.
"I swear, Aimi, you have OCD or something." Collin said, grabbing some instant ramen from their kitchen closet. (There, they kept any food they didn't have to store in the refrigerator.)
"CDO, Collin, CDO." She joked, crossing her hands and leaning against their counter. "It's OCD…but organized according to alphabetical order."
"Chicos!" Diego's voice rang from their living room. He sounded stressed, even managing to slip back into his native language. "Ven aqui. Ustedes tienen que ver esto!" Diego was originally from Mexico. When he had come to the orphanage ten years ago, they had all been surprised. Like Collin, he was two years older than her, and a year younger than Rue.
Rue gave her a look, which she shrugged in response to. Rue never bothered learning Spanish. He knew Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Swedish, and even Turkish, but he figured Spanish was a waste of time. Diego and Collin knew English, French, German, Greek, Irish, and Japanese. Aimi, like a good little child that was forced to do things she really didn't want to do, was forced to learn all of these. (In reality, she only ever actually used Chinese, English, German, and Japanese frequently.)
When they had made it to the living room, which really hadn't taken them but twelve steps to their left, they stared, in shock, at what Diego had been staring at.
"We interrupt your programming to bring you an important message from the ICPO-this is being broadcast all over the world. Japanese voiceover is provided by translator Yoshio Anderson." The screen showed a dark haired man in a suit. His hair was longer Rue's. His face was impassive, but they could all she the fear under the mask. He was glancing down until precisely the moment when she sat down between Diego and Rue.
"My name is Lind L. Taylor, widely known as L." He started with his hands still on his lap and his face seemingly calm.
"What? No way!" Collin disagreed, facing them with the biggest look of disbelief on his face. "L would never reveal his face like that."
"No. Su valor para su vida es demasiado grande." Diego agreed, frowning.
"Well, if you think that's him, you're stupid." Rue stared. "I've met him twice now. Even though once was nearly eight years ago, and the second time I was under some serious medication due to pain, I know that's not him. Even if he-"
"Even if he combed his hair, wore a suit and a time, that wouldn't be him. That's not his face. The way L is, he's going to have baggies under his eyes until the day he dies." Aimi chimed in, cutting them off. "Now, shut up."
Lind Taylor looked off screen, almost as if he didn't want to stare at the camera in the face. "To the perpetrator of these serial murders: You have committed the most abominable act in history. I will personally catch the one behind it…"Kira" at any cost."
"Rue, you have totally been replaced." Collin smirked, elbowing Rue. "Looks like you're not the world's best criminal anymore."
Rue scowled before wiping the blood off his shirt. "Anyone who kills impersonally like this guy is doing, hahaha, isn't much of a real criminal, is he? Besides, L thinks I'm dead. As far as I'm concerned-"
"Aimi is the record holder for the longest case ever gone unsolved." Diego said, stopping Rue from finishing his sentence.
Rue scowled and glared at them all. "Fucking hell, if you idiots don't let me finish a fucking sentence, I'm going to slit all your throats."
"Are you going to clean the apartment afterwards?" Aimi asked, not missing a beat. "Cause, if you are, I'm almost going to be tempted to let you do it, freeloader."
Taylor glanced back at the camera, his eyes angry and focused now. "Kira, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're trying to do, and why you're doing it." He said. It was clear to the four geniuses' that he had memorized his lines, but that the words clearly weren't his. The imposter L had had his words handed to him by the real one. "But, what you're doing…is evil!" Lind shouted with such force that Aimi almost believed him.
"Yeah, that should piss 'Kira' off real good." She whistled.
"Police all over have already begun to investigate." Lind continued.
About a minute later, he made a grab at his heart and slumped over on the desk, unresponsive. The reactions to this were immediate.
"What the fuck!" Rue asked, his face scrunching up. It made the one burn mark he had kept on his body-after several, extensive surgeries that didn't even make him look like he used to-scrunching up on his face. He remained sitting down.
"Madre de Dios!" Diego exclaimed, almost at the same time. He was on his feet, almost as if he wanted to go and help. He swayed back and forth.
"Shit, Diego, God's mother has nothing to do with this." Collin cussed. "Er ist für eine Herausforderung zu fragen!"
"Unbelievable." A voice came on the screen. It was thick with a voice synthesizer, but they all knew who it was. They had all heard his voice enough times before to be able to tell. "I did this on the off-chance that you would kill "me". So, Kira, you can kill people without even being nearby."
"He has got to be confused." Collin muttered, falling back on the couch.
"So, it's true after all. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it. But, this was the only way you could have killed them, wasn't it?" The real L continued, mocking 'Kira.' Lind's Taylor swung, but his body no longer was there. They had taken it off the screen. "Kira, listen to me. The person you killed was actually a prisoner sentenced to be executed at this time today. Not me. He was a criminal imprisoned without any media attention, so naturally even you didn't know he existed."
"Is that why Kira hasn't killed you yet, Rue?" Diego asked, thoughtfully. "He doesn't have your face."
"Even if he did, I've had plenty of surgeries." Rue frowned for a second, then he gave Diego his best creepy smile. "I'd like to see him kill me."
"So would L." Aimi said, gesturing to the TV with a nod.
"But I, L, am real!" His famous letter appeared on the screen. "So, why don't you kill me? Come on! Do it! Come on! Kill me. What's wrong? Can't do it?" L's voice taunted. It riled Rue and Collin up nicely, she could tell. The murderous intent was radiating off both of them. "Seems like you can't kill me after all so there are people you can't kill. Thanks for the hint. Let me tell you something in return; I said that this was a worldwide live broadcast, but it's really only being shown in the Kanto area of Japan. I was planning on doing this at other prefectures, but now that's unnecessary. I know that you're in the Kanto area."
"That's right." Collin ground his teeth. "The first guy to die-"
"The police might have missed this, but I know your first victim was a murderer in Shinjuku. Compared to all the other criminals who died of similar causes, this guy seems insignificant. And, only the Japanese media reported this incident. That was the only clue I needed to know you're in Japan, Kira! And, that man was just a test for your killings!"
"Odio lo inteligente que es." Diego hissed.
Aimi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His hair had stood up on end. Like Collin, his teeth were clenched and he was glaring at the screen, intently. Of course, this was nothing compared to Rue, who, if feelings could kill, would have killed them all in an instant and would have had enough energy to kill L afterwards.
"I got lucky, casting my net out on the most populated area of Japan. I really didn't expect my plan to go so well. Kira, it's not far from the day you die."
"Sono namaikina yarō." Rue ground out in Japanese. "The faster he solves this motherfucking case, the faster he leaves Japan."
"The faster he's away from us." Aimi glanced at Rue, worried. "Why, then, is my gut telling me that the case isn't going to be solved any time soon?"
"Kira, I'm extremely interested in your killing method. I'll figure it out…when I catch you!" L shouted. "Kira! I will hunt you down and destroy you!" They were awestruck. "I am...justice!"
"L doesn't shout." Collin stated. His mouth dropped and was hanging down.
"He does when he's pissed." Aimi stood, her hands trembling slightly. "Regardless what he says, there's a bottom line. They're both-Kira and L-chasing someone, someone they don't know the identity to. L's not going to work this case alone. I love you, Rue, but your case was easy compared to this. L knew you, knows you. He knew how your mind worked, and what you wanted. He knows nothing about Kira, and vice versa." She frowned, pushing past the TV and heading towards her room, a headache spiraling into her head. "The Kira case isn't going to go away…not anytime soon."
And, with that, she slammed the door to her shared room with Rue.
The first thing she did, a couple of days later when the apartment seemed to be calm, was slam her hand down on the alarm clock and rolling back over. When it went off five minutes later, she grabbed it and chunked it across the room, not in the mood to wake up yet. It smacked into the wall and fell into silence. A few seconds after that, a pillow was thrown at her. When she finally managed to sit up and rub the sleep from her eyes, her eye twitched and she glowered at Rue.
"What was that for?" She asked, angrily.
"You set the alarm for a reason. You didn't wake up when it rang. Therefore, I woke you up." Rue said, bluntly not bothering to grace her with his gaze. He was focused on the computer.
"We have class today, idiot." She groaned, pushing the covers away from her with great lament. She got up, stretched, and went about putting her clothes on. She had showered the night before, because she knew she was too lazy to do it in the morning. She shook off her shorts and pulled her dark blue skinny jeans on, glaring at them until they were on just right. Afterwards, she grabbed a black turtleneck and threw it on the bed as she wrestled out of Rue's long sleeved shirt.
"Why don't you just wear my shirt?" Rue asked, staring at her as if she were stupid.
"Because, that's my sleeping shirt; I can't wear my sleeping shirt to school." Finally pulling herself out of the shirt. "Besides, I'll feel really weird wearing your clothes out in public."
"Why?" Rue asked, his voice flat.
"I…I don't know. It's just weird. I don't like wearing anyone's clothes except my own. When I'm lounging around the apartment, I don't care. Out in public…I just…no."
Rue scoffed, slammed the screen on his computer down and threw it to the corner of his bed. He was never careful with his stuff. He didn't care about it. Afterwards, he threw himself down in his bed and turned with his back to her.
"Don't do that, Rue." She frowned. "Don't get mad at me. I don't wear Diego's clothes. I don't wear Collin's clothes. I never wore L's clothes. The only thing I ever borrowed from Linda was her headband…once."
Rue said nothing, but didn't turn around either.
"I'm going to class. You should go, too. I know you hate it, but it'd be less boring to correct the teacher if you were taking it with me." She said, slipping into her flats and attempting to get to go by poking his shoulder. No dice. "Fine, but if you need me…or if anything else in the case comes up, you better get your ass in gear and call me, got it?"
Again, she got nothing.
"Getting all pissy because I wouldn't wear his shirt." She grumbled under her breath.
"Heading to school?" Diego asked, slipping his arms into a navy jacket that was supposed to go with his khaki pants. Underneath, he wore a long sleeved white shirt with buttons. "I'll walk with you. I have work."
She shrugged and put her keys in her bag, which she slung on her shoulder. "Who're you escorting today?"
He frowned and glanced away. "Some ditsy model. As in, not the girls I usually show around, but I couldn't refuse. She's paying a lot for a tour. She wants to move here in a couple of years."
They waved to Collin, who was in the kitchen, shirtless, attempting to make what looked like bacon. They walked down the stairs-considering they were on the second floor-and walked out the door.
"So, she's native to Japan? Then, why does she need an escort?" Aimi asked, confused.
"I don't really know. I can't do much about it, either. I just have to do whatever they tell me to do. They're paying me for it, and we need the money. The security we're going to have to put up because of Rue and Collin's tendency to be…paranoid is going to cost us a hell of a lot."
Aimi sighed and turned to cross the street, waving at Diego.
"Such is our life, Diego." She turned and continued on her own for a while. "Such is my life."
Guys! Come here. You've got to see this! (Spanish)
No. His value for his life is too great. (Spanish)
Mother of God! (Spanish)
He's asking for a challenge. (German)
I hate how intelligent he is. (Spanish)
That cocky bastard. (Japanese)
Short, but there it is! This is kind of a filler, kind of letting you know who two of the protagonists are considering you know the other two. Let me know what you think of them! I don't mind if you say you dislike it or like it. I just liked getting that one review. (: I'll also be updating every Wednesday. Don't worry. They'll be getting longer. I'm also sorry if I butchered the languages. XD I speak Spanish...so that kind of helps. And, I know some German...but I'm clueless on the Japanese.