Chapter Five
Feverish Love
It didn't take long before Light's mind became as dark and stormy as the weather.
Though Light had on a light jacket, it was no match for the pouring rain that fell from the skies of Tokyo. The rain was freezing, and managed to soak Light to his very core, chilling his spine and numbing his limbs. His teeth chattered and he shivered constantly.
Light's health fell quickly, a decline fueled by years of eating for the bare minimum of nutrients only. A fever slowly grew with in him, burning away at his lung, his cheeks and forehead. Light felt as if he was under attack from both fire and ice. The two feelings raged a battle inside of him, as relentless as the ever-falling rain.
The fever began meddling with his mind. The lights of the city blurred around him. The sounds started to get fuzzy, sounding strange and at sometimes alarming.
Light lost track of where he was in the city, but instead of stopping to find out where he was, he walked on. He knew he was looking for something, but he knew not what he searched for. He never knew. Each year he would walk, each year his search would fail.
Soon Light found himself surrounded by trees and grass. He figured he must be in a park. A bench came up on his right. Light would have brushed by it without a second thought but then he stumbled and fell to the ground. He landed on his knees and hands, scraping them with a sting, dulled by the fever in his head.
With a cough he pushed himself up and onto the bench, breathing heavily. Once on the bench, he leaned forward and hung his head. He was beginning to forget exactly what he was doing and why he was here.
He sat on the bench for awhile and the rain continued to relentlessly poured down on him. As he sat he tried to think about things that escaped him. He was Light. He was Kira. He was Chief Yagami's son and also the son of Sachiko Yagami. His mother had killed his father. She told him it was his fault. Shiori had died. He knew it was his fault. His fault. What else was his fault?
He was smart. He solved crimes. He needed to solve crimes. Every crime he didn't solve was another un-avenged death. Another possible murderer on the loose. More possible deaths to occur.
Death. It happened to all those around him. Death. Death. Death, death, death. Dea-th. Death. It's a funny word. Death.
Light chuckled to himself, but then the chuckles died off slowly. He sat in silence, listening to the rain. He had no idea how much time passed, but then something suddenly broke through the fog that clouded his mind. A soft voice that spoke his name.
"Light," Shiori called out. Light sat up with a start, opening his eyes to see Shiori standing in front of him. She had not aged a day since he last saw her. She wore he school uniform that, despite the fact it was raining, seemed to be dry. Light searched her face for anger and blame, but it was smooth and kind.
"Shiori?" He managed to croak out. She seemed so real but he knew she couldn't be real. He reached out to touch her, but she took a step back and shook her head. She now had a sad smile on her face. Light was confused. He wanted to ask her why she was here, and what was going on. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He coughed again, this time in a fit. The coughs seemed to drain him of energy, a sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Get up, Light. Get up," Shiori commanded. Light didn't want to. He was wet and cold. But Shiori wanted him to. He owed her that. He stood with a great heave, and steadied himself on his feet.
"Follow me. I need you to follow me." She began walking, every now and then glancing back to see if he was following. He was. Light shuffled after her, like a lost puppy. He studied her as he followed. She seemed to have a glow to her, an unnatural glow. No sounds came from her footsteps. Her hair swayed as she walked. Her socks were bunching down at her ankles, like they used to. She seemed to be humming to herself; a cheery tune that seemed out of place on a night like this.
They walked out of the park and back into the city. The street lamps were on, but the light they cats was brighter then usual. The sounds of the city had died down. Very few people were up and about. Anyone they did pass paid Shiori or Light any attention. This was something Light wouldn't mind, but he was still not sure if Shiori was real. He wanted to ask her, but he was afraid it might offend her and make her leave. Once or twice he could have sworn he saw Mikami, but he could only focus on one crazy thing at a time.
Light soon found himself on a bridge over a river. Shiori had gotten quite a few yards a head of him. A man passed him, headed the opposite direction. The scent of pastries came to Light's nose. Suddenly a loud truck honk blared, disorienting Light. He stumbled into the railing to catch himself from falling. Once balanced he looked for Shiori, only to discover she had disappeared.
Light panicked. She had to be somewhere. She couldn't just leave him. He looked around wildly but saw no trace of her on the bridge. Maybe she fell of the bridge. Light leaned over the rail and looked at the dark water fifty-feet below. There was no sign of a disturbance. But then again, Shiori may not of had mass, since she may not have been real. Maybe she had fallen in and was drowning, but had no ripple or splashes to show where she had gone in.
This though drove Light wild. He couldn't let Shiori down again. He climbed over the rail and stood on the edge on the other side, both hands behind him clutching the ice-cold rail. He looked down at the water again, trying to guess where she fell in, but then fell into a trance.
The water below cast a spell on him. Though it was dark and freezing, it looked bright, warm, and inviting. It seemed to promise him an end to all his problems. It was relief. An escape.
The water called to him, and Light was eager to answer the call.
Now it was a simple matter of going off the edge. Not really jumping, but more like falling. The end was so close. Light felt almost giddy.
A noise suddenly startled him out of his stupor. He lost his balance and fell. Strong arm caught him in an iron grip and pulled him back over the rail. He spilled over the side and onto the concrete sidewalk. The pain of impact and the general hurt of the sickness overtook him. He felt so exhausted. He instantly forgot what he was doing just a moment ago and just focused on the pain.
Just before he blacked out Light noticed a man standing over him with piercing black eyes, looking down with a grimace.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
The day went like most days went for L. Unsatisfying. There was always work that didn't get done, a puzzle yet to be solve, and personal contact loathed to be had. Despite himself, L enjoyed these days, because what was life without a struggle? Struggle made things interesting.
Today was a particularly frustrating day. There had been no new breaks in the case that had brought him to Japan. An exciting art thief mixed in with an fake art trafficking ring.
There were was a Japanese task force working on this with him but L would have preffered working solo. Compared to him everyone was a dead weight, just another pawn on the chessboard that was life.
Everyone except for Whammy. He was L's caretaker. He made sure L got the need nutrition and calories to survive and saw to other basic functions, like cleaning clothes and regulating almost everything that wasn't case related in L's life. L didn't have time to sweat the small things when solving cases for the greater good needed solving.
He also did more prestigious jobs like openly dealing with people L had to work with, under the guise of Watari, the only person who could contact L and put him on a case.
L never meets anyone face to face. His identity was a total secret, one of his biggest assets against his enemies. When he goes out in public he is just another face, one of the crowd, a person of no consequence.
Well, not completely. He was always somewhat known to the bakeries and dessert shops he visited as a big spender, since he always bought in bulk.
Usually he sent out Whammy to do his shopping but today Whammy was busy being Watari and finishing up tedious paperwork back at the hotel. L had no patience to fill anything out today. The rain made him feel depressed, a feeling he could easily treat with chocolate. Sadly he had grown tired of the hotel's dessert menu and they had run out of anything else.
So that was why L happened to be out on the streets in Tokyo, Japan, in the middle of the night in a great storm. For the sole purpose of tracking down some chocolaty confection.
He succeeded in finding an open place a few blocks away from the hotel and triumphantly made his purchase and carried it back toward the hotel carefully, making sure the umbrella protected him and the bag of goodies from the rain.
On his way back as he crossed a bridge he spotted what appeared to be a drunk man stumbling along with a certain determination. The man passed L, seeming to not notice him at all. A truck drove by and honked loudly at a car that had cut it off. The drunk, seemingly startled stumbled into the railing of the bridge, gripping it for balance.
L would have continued on completely unconcerned, for drunks were common around the world, but the guy who had just passed him did not smell of alcohol. Maybe it was the rain, but no trace of spirits wafted into L's nose.
L stopped and stared at the possibly not drunk man with interest. He loved solving puzzles, and this looked like a small brainteaser that would be quick to solve.
The man he was watching looked young. His hair was dripping. It was raining hard and the man had no umbrella or rain jacket, and appeared to be drenched. He looked crazed, spinning his head around wildly. Was he trying to find the source of the noise? Not likely.
The man then looked over the bridge with a look of horror, as if he was a mother and dropped his baby over the edge. His face had a certain level of concern that exceeded dropped cell phone or sandwich. Quicker then L could anticipate the man climbed over to the other side of the railing, about to jump.
Dropping the bag of desserts and his umbrella, L rushed forward and grabbed the man around the waist. L hoisted him over, letting go as soon as he was sure he was safe. The man didn't get up, or really move at all. He just stared up at Light with a distant look then closed his eyes and passed out.
This was surely an interesting turn of events. Positively, L had an even bigger puzzle to solve for entertainment. Negatively, his sweets have been compromised and he was now wet.
The man had yet to move, so L put two fingers on his throat to check his pulse. The pulse was strong, but the skin was surprisingly warm. The man had a fever, and an alarmingly high one at that.
L was confirmed that the man smelled not like alcohol. He smelled not much different then the rain. That, and the level of wetness of his clothes, confirmed for L that the man had been outside for a long time. A stupid choice. L had no leading hypothesis as to why the man would be outside in this weather for so long.
The man moaned a bit, making L realize that he probably had to attend to him now. Pulling out his cell phone he quickly dialed Watari for assistance.
"Hello. What is your situation?" Whammy questioned.
L explained his situation. Whammy suggested he take him to a hospital, but when L said the word hospital, the man, seemingly conscious again began to moan "no hospital" over and over. It appeared he was not fully coherent upon further inspection. L told Whammy to hold off calling a ambulance.
L tried to question the young man, putting Whammy on hold.
"Sir, what is your name?" L asked.
"What is yours?" He mumbled in reply. The tart reply amused L.
"Sir, what is your name?" L repeated.
"Light. Like, from above." The man pointed up at a street lamp nearby. L's suspicion that the man was mentally ill rose.
"Last name?" L questioned.
"What's your?" Light demanded back. L could see the man was going to be difficult, so he cut straight to the business.
"Ok, Light, why don't you want to go to the hospital?"
"Why don't you? You, sir, are more like me then you know." The man was clearly out of his mind. There was an extremely low chance that the man knew who he was.
"Death. Death, death, death." The man started to ramble. He clearly needed help. He seemed crazed, yet the pain in his voice made L's heart feel… odd.
"Light, I'm taking you to a hospital, whether you like it or not." L brought his phone back to his ear, about to tell Whammy to call that ambulance, but the man grabbed L's arm.
Warmth immediately rushed to the spots on L's arm where Light was touching. The fever must be higher then L had suspected. This man need medical attention as soon a spossible. But then their eyes met, and L noticed the brown Light's eyes, and the desperation in them.
"Please. No hospital."
Despite the possible implications not wanting hospital aid could mean about the man, L found himself telling Whammy that he was bringing Light to the hotel. Whammy never questioned his orders, and did as told, promising to prepare medical assistance for Light. Light had seemingly passed out again at this point, so L picked him up in a piggyback type hold, and began walking.
Sorry for the long break. I know excuses are never good, but I got caught up in school work mixed with senioritis and other crazy things. But know this, I promise to finish this story! And I will work on it a lot more often now that classes have winded down.