Fragaria
"We can only procure one seat in the exams, and consequently only one of us can-"
"Yes, but I don't understand why you get to go" Robin stated, crossing her arms.
Most of the task force was watching the two amusedly over the tips of their papers and coffee cups, pretending to work as the bickering went on between the two young adults.
"I am the lead investigator, besides, you dress in suits. You don't think that would attract attention?" L asked, trying to ignore the woman as he sat down on a plush chair in front of his laptop.
"That may be, but you can't read Light as well as I can. If I could see him in person, then I might be able to ascertain valuable information" Robin argued, leaning over the desk and blocking his access to the keyboard. "And excuse me for wanting to look professional instead of like a slob. I can change clothes, anyway"
"I am not a slob," L stated, a frustrated look crossing his features. "And you only dress professionally in order to force people into taking you seriously" he tried to nudge her out of the way so he could get to the keyboard, but Robin refused. A silence overtook the room as the two simply stared at each other, the task force watching the scene with questionable looks on their faces. "…Are you trying to glare at me again?" L asked after a few minutes.
Robin settled for expressing a frown. "Yes, because you are a completely abhorring human being" she stated bluntly.
"You don't think that's a tad harsh?" An amused look twinkled in L's eye and Robin quickly expressed another frown at the sight of it.
"You don't think commenting on a lady's wardrobe with such disregard for her feeling is 'a tad harsh'?" she asked mockingly.
He held back a smile. "I had no idea you were so sensitive about your attire"
Robin began pulling back her hand in preparation for a slap, "I'll show you who's sensitive-" she cut herself off as the double-clap rang out through the room, both of them immediately snapping to attention.
"Now, now, you two! You think such great minds as yourselves would work harder on figuring out a compromise instead of inciting an argument" Whammy said, striding into the room with a bowl of gummy bears.
"She started it" the ink-haired detective accused bluntly.
Robin gave him a grimace. "I certainly did not, you selfish-"
"Please, you two. I believe a fine solution to this matter is to have Robin accompany me in the car; then she may have her own chance to see young Yagami." Whammy turned to L and gave him a firm look. "That is, assuming that you can goad him to follow you for awhile?" L reluctantly nodded, eyeing the bowl of treats hungrily. Satisfied with his answer, Whammy handed the bowl over to the detective.
"Still, isn't it customary for one to wear formal clothes at the ceremony?" Robin asked curiously.
"Nonsense, no dress code was listed" L said, muffled through his cheeks bulging with gummy bears.
…
Robin held the pill bottle with distaste, "I'm not sure I understand, please run it by me again" she said; voice sounding too loud for the, usually bustling with a task force but now empty, living room of the hotel suite.
"Beta blockers are designed to manage cardiac arrhythmias. If you take them, they will decrease the amount of adrenaline in your system and allow you to sleep free of-"
She cut off the detective, "No. I understand that. You forget I'm drug-licensed" Robin stated. "What I don't understand is why you thought it was okay to go behind my back and talk to Mr. Frederick in order to get this prescription" she finished.
L gave her one of his blank, business-like stares. "It was a matter of me being professionally involved. As your employer, it is my responsibility to make sure that you are functioning properly in order to work on this case. Apparently, 'going behind your back' was necessary since it seems you hadn't informed Mr. Frederick of your inability to sleep."
Robin crossed her arms, What else did he tell Mr. Frederick? What did Mr. Frederick tell him? Has L had access to the results of my therapy all this time? Or has he only been snooping since that night? The more questions that popped up in her head, the more anger Robin built up.
"You had no right to get involved in this. I can handle it. It's none of your business" Robin said coldly, tossing the pill bottle back at the detective.
"R, this-"
"It's Robin!" she insisted, turning on her heel to walk away.
"Robin, I'm trying to help you" L stated exasperatedly, making her stop in her tracks.
She was genuinely surprised, both at the usage of her full alias and L's actual words, "What?" Robin questioned quietly, slowly turning back to the detective.
Help? He never shows concern for anyone, never lets anything take his focus if it doesn't have a case number or a high sugar content. L doesn't deal with people, let alone care about them. Robin stopped herself, Or… Is that B's impression of L bleeding into my own?
"I would like you to be as healthy as possible. If you don't take the steps to do that yourself, then I can't help you at all" L said firmly, "Take the pills"
She exhaled a deep breath before complying, lifting the pill bottle from his outstretched hand in silence. "I still think you're incorrigible"
…
The entrance ceremony was full of cherry blossoms cascading from the trees, and Robin looked up at them in wonder before surveying all the people gathered outside. She was supposed to stay in the car, but Whammy had gone off to the bathroom, and curiosity had certainly gotten the better of her.
Ha, and L said I would look out of place in a suit. Everyone is wearing nice clothes, he's the one that will look out of place. Robin thought, expressing a small smile as she did so. She searched for L, or even Light, but after seeing neither she decided to find the place where the address was being held.
"Um, excuse me," Robin said, stopping a random stranger. "Do you know where the ceremony is taking place?" She asked, the kind woman directing her to the ceremony hall.
Robin slid in the entrance quietly, unnoticed by all the eyes glued to the stage where the ceremony had already started, and stood at the back of the room. They just called Light, and that means…
"Likewise, freshman representative, Hideki Ryuga"
Robin nearly stopped breathing at the thought of the handsome idol. What? But L is supposed to be, no way it's really- She cut off her own thoughts as a familiar detective took the stage, disheveled as always and wearing his casual shirt and jeans despite of everyone else's formal clothes. Robin stared in shock for a moment, before she sighed in annoyance and shook her head at him. Stupid git, of course he had to use that name... Trying to get my goat, I bet.
None-the-less, she watched as Light and L gave some corny-sounding speech about life and new beginnings and other such things. After what seemed like an eternity, the ceremony ended and left Robin wishing that she'd just stayed in the car after all; as it was dreadfully boring.
The rush of people when the event ended was expected, and Robin carefully managed to avoid the majority of the crowd while staving off her nervousness at the situation. At first, she headed towards the seats where L and Light had been sitting during the ceremony-had being the key word, since the two had since vanished. The increasing unfamiliarity of the crowd milling around her was starting to make her uneasy, so when the voice spoke, Robin visibly jumped.
"Are you having fun playing detective with him?" the question was casual, lightheartedly spoken with an underlying sneer, but it immediately sent a shock of pure panic down her spine.
Robin wanted to turn around, make it obvious that B wasn't really there-couldn't really be there, but she was frozen with fear. "Beyond" her voice gasped out instead, her mouth going dry.
A chuckle, that familiar chuckle that somehow sounded wrong, assaulted her ears. "How smart you are, Ruby. Has L been helping you hone your skills?" B asked condescendingly.
She felt sick, her stomach turning violently at her own name. "You're not real?" Robin tried to say it firmly, but it came out sounding like a desperate question.
"If I'm not real, then who gave you all those lovely scars?" B said, making Robin's hand fly up to touch her most visible reminder; the scar on her lip from it splitting open during her capture. "Or maybe you mean here, now, am I real right now? Am I really here, or are you just going crazy?" A heavy hand prodded her shoulder, making Robin cringe and somehow finally giving her enough nerve to turn.
Her eyes searched frantically; but there was no disarrayed black mop, no changing red eyes, no unsettling smirk, nothing, nothing, nothing. But wait, Robin's brain shot out after the seconds it took her to survey the view on her right side, that game…
Robin's head snapped to the left so fast that whiplash would later be a valid concern, but it didn't matter because there; mixing in with the people flowing out of the front door, barely visible between a large lady in a blue pantsuit and a group of animated freshmen, was a flash of red eyes and a grin wearing a tailored black suit.
Her brain was suddenly so full with possible courses of action that the only think Robin could manage was to gape at him. B's favorite game, tap someone on the shoulder and run away in the opposite direction before they could catch you. Robin's thoughts reminded her unhelpfully, "Catch me if you can, catch me if you can"
Robin broke out into a dangerously unbalanced sprint, locking her eyes on the crowd where she'd seen B last and making a beeline for it on her teetering heels. Her trail led her into the doorway where she carelessly knocked shoulders and pushed people aside before breaking into the outside air; craning her neck as she did so to look for spiky messy hair-until she literally ran smack into someone.
The sense of balance the action required to prevent her from falling wasn't within Robin, if anything her challenges with gravity were furthered by her heels, and she fell backwards hard onto the concrete. The shoot of pain, as well as the sudden remembrance of how she'd run into B in very much the same way at the hotel in LA, sent a sudden burst of panic through her. Thankfully, it was squelched quickly as a voice spoke. A familiar, but very un-B-like voice:
"I apologize, I wasn't really paying attention. Let me help you up" Robin looked up, and was stunned to find the speaker to be the very suspect Light Yagami.
What a truly perfect twist of fate this is… Robin thought, not letting her surprise leak out into her features. Instead, she took the hand offered by the young man and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
"I'm afraid it's more my fault that yours. I can be quite clumsy at times" Robin stated, carefully surveying his features to ascertain what a normal unguarded reaction from him looked like. "You are Yagami-san, correct?" she asked, noting the surprise that dawned on his face. "Don't look so shocked, a lot of people talk about how well you did on the exams-so of course I know who you are. Your speech was lovely, by the way"
"Well, I certainly hope these people aren't saying anything bad about me," Light said suavely. "You heard my speech? Are you a freshman as well?"
Light doesn't seem flustered at all, it seems that he's quite used to women despite being so academically devoted. But, there's something about him that seems almost… impatient? Like I'm not fit to occupy his time. Does he have somewhere better to be? Robin wondered, before realizing she'd been silent too long, and opened her mouth to retort.
However, at that exact moment, a shout rang out near the doors.
"Yagami-kun!" a familiar voice said, and Robin turned unsurprised to see L emerging from the crowd. As he approached, the detective's brows rose slightly in surprise. "Robin?" he questioned, although she could tell it was only a mockery of shock.
He knew I was here, has he been observing us this whole time? Did he see Beyond? Robin pushed the thought away and silently vowed to remain focused on Light; of all times, she couldn't afford to be distracted now. Living dead haunting her or not.
She let herself express a lighthearted smile, "Ryuga" Robin stated, letting him know that she had caught his alias joke.
"I thought you were waiting for me elsewhere?" L asked, looking indifferent despite the annoyed undertone Robin barely caught in his voice.
"And I thought you said no one would be wearing suits?" Robin shot back.
Light cleared his throat quietly. "Well, I will be seeing you Hideki-san" he said, trying to turn and make his departure when a delicate hand stopped him.
"I would like to apologize for so brutally assaulting you, Yagami. I do hope that I can amend my debt at a later date" Robin said, giving him a coy smile. Emotions flashed across his face only slightly, but Robin could catch them easily.
Surprise, suspicion, reluctance… Ah, I know L so he doesn't trust me. Which means L has told Light who he is already; and without waiting so I didn't see Light's reaction. How selfish. Robin thought.
Light gave her a large smile that was no doubt meant for charming women. "In that case, I would love to get your name"
"Robin Sterling" she stated, before jumping at a hand that rested in the middle of her back suddenly.
"My girlfriend," L added, as if it was her title.