A/N: Hey you guys! I wasn't lying when I said I was back! Whee! XD
Well, I'm home (THANK GOD!), and even though I caught some sort of stupid bug within the past 24 hours, it didn't stop me from writing this chapter!
Thank you all so much for sticking with me! Man, is it good to be back!!!!
Oh ho ho ho! This is a chapter people have been asking about, but no, it's not THAT chapter, but don't worry. THAT chapter should be coming up really really really really soon! XD
So please! Sit back, grab a blanket (I've got mine!), and stay tuned for the next installment of The Art of Drowning by that crazy girl with an L fetish!
The Art of Drowning
Friendship
Something was dreadfully wrong with him.
L sat, hunched in his usual position, glaring at the large slice of cheese cake Watari had insisted on leaving for him.
He didn't really like cheesecake anymore, but that was understandable. L could explain the reason behind his avoidance of the sweet, and it was a perfectly logical reason, but what he couldn't explain was something much more troubling.
Something was dreadfully wrong with him, and it bothered L to no end.
By nature, L was an introvert. Where some felt the need to surround themselves with people, even taking great comfort in doing so, L felt the need to be alone. He craved very little social interaction, and what little he did was taken care of by Watari.
However, that is not to say that L never felt the need to have friends, and he counted himself lucky that in his childhood he had had a friend so close they were like brothers. Until recently, Light Layfield was the only person he could stand being around for any great length of time.
Considering that L hadn't seen him in nearly a decade and that their relationship had dwindled to a few polite letters exchanged every few months or so, this said a lot about how truly introverted L was.
But then Yagami Raito had pushed himself into L's life in the most unconventional manner, and L had found another person that he could stand to be around for long periods of time. Hell, L had even handcuffed himself to the man for months, and very rarely did he ever tire of Raito's presence during that time. Raito had been so . . . invigorating.
But Yagami Raito had been the main suspect in the most extraordinary and unusual case of mass murder in history, and L was the detective charged to catch him.
L sighed, biting his thumb absently at the thought.
L had never actually made a friend before. Light had been more a friend of circumstance than anything, but he was sure that people didn't go about making friends like he did with Raito. Most people didn't lock their would-be friends in solitary confinement, chain themselves to their would-be friends for months, or accuse them of being murderers.
Well, Raito had been a murderer.
What normal person would attempt to befriend a murderer in the first place?
Apparently L would, and he never regretted it. Yagami Raito had become his dearest, best friend, and L had been captivated by him. It wasn't just Raito's attractive features, though L could not deny the physical attraction he had felt. No, it was Raito's mind. L had never been more attracted to another person's mind.
But Raito was Kira the mass murderer, and L was L the detective. They were like Yin and Yang, complete opposites, and it was L's job to make sure that Kira was stopped. They couldn't be friends, couldn't be anything other than criminal and detective, but that hadn't stopped L from secretly thinking of how they complimented each other so perfectly, just like Yin and Yang.
L bit his thumb harder.
Never had a hint of his personal feelings become known to the other man, and L was both glad and grieved because of it. He had been satisfied with friendship. He would rather have that than nothing at all, and L wasn't one to face rejection well. However, he still wished he could have confessed before Raito left this world forever.
But Raito was dead, dead at his own hand, and L continued to feel the heady guilt gnawing at his heart.
He had been too late.
L had wanted proof. He wanted to find out if Raito really was Kira or not before he had set his next plan in motion. If Raito hadn't been Kira, then all the better, but if Raito had been proven to be Kira after his second confinement . . .
L had planned to offer the other man redemption.
Yes, L placed justice high on his priority list, but L had always been a childish, selfish person who hated to lose. And L hadn't wanted to lose Raito. He had wanted to keep him.
But Raito took that away any chance of that when Raito took his own life.
L sighed, pushing the offending cake away. He stood up, walking to the window. He stared out at the cityscape of London. As much as he tried, Raito would not leave him alone.
Yagami Raito was a moot point that L had a hard time forgetting. His mind would dwell on the other man at the most inconvenient of times, like now, when he should be concentrating on the case he was planning to take on. The man was dead, along with any tentative future they might have had at one time.
He was better off forgetting. Much more important things had cause for his attention.
What L needed to concentrate on now was Light Layfield, and the thought of his childhood friend, his almost brother, being the main suspect in a gruesome murder.
L was mildly surprised to find that he wasn't as upset about his would-be brother from the past being a murderer. He hadn't really known the other boy for nearly a decade, and while he missed the companionship and deep relationship they had once shared, L knew that it had ended when Watari had found him all those years ago.
It seemed as if he was getting used to his friends being murderers.
And this brought L back to his original problem.
This was why L knew something was dreadfully, innately wrong with him.
After all, what kind of person could only befriended murderers?
L groaned, letting his head hit against the window. His laptop made a demanding beep, and L glared ruefully at it. He didn't want to work right now. He didn't want to chase after another friend and peg them for murder.
Really, all he wanted to do was enjoy his holiday and forget about all the friends he'd ever had.
"L?" asked Watari, coming into the room.
L made a valiant attempt to ignore the other man. He really didn't feel up to company, even from Watari.
"I see you haven't touched your cake," said Watari.
L sighed explosively. "No, Watari. I have not touched the cake."
"But cheesecake is your favorite," continued the older man, picking up the offending confectionary.
L glared at Watari through the reflection in the window. "It was my favorite."
Watari shook his head sadly. "Well, do you have a new favorite?"
"No, I seem to have lost my appetite for cake," said L petulantly.
Watari nodded. "Ice cream, then?"
L paused, indecision warring. "Yes, I can safely say I prefer ice cream to cake now."
"Then that's what I'll bring you," said Watari, leaving with the untouched plate of cake.
"Watari?" asked L suddenly, stopping the man half way out the door.
Watari turned back. "Yes, L?"
L hesitated. "Do you think . . . there's something wrong with me?"
"Whatever do you mean?" frowned Watari, obviously confused at what L was getting at.
L started to elaborate, but shook his head. "Never mind."
Watari gave him an odd look before nodding, leaving L once again to his thoughts. L turned back to gazing out the window, his head resting against the cool glass. His gentle breathing fogged a small bit of the window, and L scrutinized the condensation before slowly wiping it away with his finger.
"Shall we leave tomorrow then?" asked Watari, coming back into the room with a large bowl of strawberry ice cream.
L stared appreciatively at the sugary confection drowned in chocolate syrup. A small smile lit his face, one that Watari was happy to see.
"Yes, I have not informed the police I would be taking their case yet. I think a couple of days on their own won't hurt," said L, dipping his spoon into the cool treat.
"I'm glad you're finally meeting with them," said Watari conversationally.
L shrugged. "You brought up a good point. I may not be so lucky next time around. My position has earned me a substantial amount of enemies. I just wish it was easier to choose."
"So do I. Neither one of them seems to be particularly suited for the position," observed Watari.
"No, not individually. What Near or Mello lacks, the other makes up for, but without a candidate who encompasses all the qualities of a successful detective such as myself, I'm afraid I cannot make the decision just yet. The children are still young. There is a chance that the decision will be easier as they get older."
"But L, you were solving cases younger than they are now," reminded Watari.
"Yes, I know," said L around a mouthful of ice cream.
Watari dropped the subject with a frown, making a point of tidying up the room that L was sitting in. He put away the books that littered the coffee table, and disposed of the candy wrappers splayed on the floor. It seemed as if L had been aiming for the waste basket, but had missed more than half the time.
"If only Matt was interested, I think I'd pick him," mused L.
"Eh?" asked Watari, straightening up from where he was picking up the candy wrappers.
"Matt would be my first choice, but the boy is not interested in becoming the next L. He is extremely smart. I have no doubt that he could far exceed Near and Mello in his studies if he put any effort into it," explained L.
Watari nodded in understanding. "He has the highest IQ score of the bunch, but Roger reported that he spends most of his time playing video games. How the boy holds the third position is beyond me."
"Exactly. If he put half the effort he does in his video games into his school work, I would not be dealing with such a hard decision, but it is quite obvious to me that the boy does not covet the title of L with the same zeal as Near and Mello. I would not force the boy into a position he does not want," said L.
"Well, we'll have the chance to meet with them, won't we? Maybe a personal meeting will help shed some light on the situation," said Watari.
"Hopefully. Have you contacted Roger about our arrival?" asked L, pushing aside the now empty bowl.
Watari grinned, and L had to stifle a sigh. Watari and Roger had been friends for years, and Watari had a bit of a mean streak when it came to his friends. Looking at him, most would not peg Watari for a prankster at heart, but L knew the older man held a special relationship with the man who ran Whammy's House, one that was like a pair of estranged brothers that would put up with each other a few times a year, but secretly were fond of the other under all their bluster.
"I thought we'd step in unannounced. See how Roger really runs things when he thinks we aren't going to be showing up anytime soon," explained Watari with a devious grin.
"And give him a coronary with our unexpected arrival? How very evil of you, Watari," said L, his face deadpanned.
Watari chuckled. "The old cougar needs some excitement in his admittedly dull life."
"You are going to have us sneak in, aren't you?" asked L, dreading the answer.
"Well, I was thinking we could arrive tomorrow evening and retire without anyone the wiser. Then the next morning, we could give him a real scare by being in his office when he walks in," explained Watari, his voice taking on a childish air in his excitement.
"And I'm sure you will refrain yourself from reorganizing his bug collection - again," commented L.
Watari frowned. "Now, L. It was all in good fun. He's far too organized with the little buggers anyhow."
L quirked his eyebrow, not particularly caring one way or the other, but L supposed he owed it to his long time caretaker to participate in a little fun now and again.
"Fine, fine. I will go along with your prank," said L, giving in.
Watari smirked, his eyes dancing with mischief. "Thank you, L."
L waved his hand. "Not a problem. I know how much fun you have messing around with Roger. It has been awhile since you've seen him anyway. I cannot in good faith deny you your fun after the exhaustive case we just came off of."
Watari nodded, smirking to himself as he took L's empty bowl away.
L watched the older man go with contemplation. Would he ever have an old friend to bicker with and play pranks on? Or would all his friends tend to be suspected murderers and dead murderers?
L sighed, closing his laptop.
He wouldn't look at the case until after he returned from Whammy's. He needed a few more days to distance himself, and what better way than to use the chaotic orphanage as a distraction?
Light stared after the cab, almost wishing he could call it back, but the cab was too far gone. He glared after it. Yes, he wanted to be here to meet this other relative of his, but he hadn't been prepared to come into the situation quite the way he did. He'd give Greg a piece of his mind when he saw him next. If he saw him next. Hopefully his uncle woudn't get into too much trouble.
He turned his attention to the gigantic house infront of him.
Light glanced once more at the address. Yes, this was it. The setting sun gave the imposing mansion in front of him an ominous look, and it didn't help that church bells could be heard in the distance. He almost felt like he was in some cheesy horror flick.
Light shivered, shaking his head to remove the inane thoughts. It was getting chilly, and it would be nice to go inside, but . . .
He stood before the high iron gate, and wondered what to do. It wasn't like he could waltz up to the door and knock. The gate was closed.
He studied the two brick columns that the iron gate was attached to, along with the high brick fence that spanned the perimeter and connected to the larger brick columns. Well, there was no way he'd be able to climb that.
He looked again at the gate, but he couldn't figure out how it opened. It was then that he spotted a dark grey box attached to one of the columns. He flicked the lid open, only to be met with numbers. So the gate was electronic? Obviously, Light would need a password, which he didn't have.
He sighed, slamming the grey lid closed.
It was then that a carved sign on the opposite column caught his eye, and the English letters processed quickly.
Whammy House
Well then.
Obviously, this Roger Ruvie relative of his was extremely well off. He'd even named his mansion. Light bit the inside of his lip, a nervous habit that had only recently resurfaced. He looked down the curbing drive once more, but the cab had long since disappeared.
Thwap!
Light jumped, shocked to see a rope had been thrown over the brick wall about forty or so yards down from where he stood. He walked slowly towards the rope, staring at it. He glance around, but there was no one in sight. Obviously, there had to be someone on the other side. Ropes didn't just appear like that, so someone had to have thrown it.
A sudden thought made him pause. He wasn't expected to climb up, was he? No, that was stupid. There had to be another explanation. He waited, looking at the top of the wall, but no one appeared.
Light stood a little ways from the rope, staring at it in frustration. This was getting ridiculous. He glanced around him again, looking for anyone who might have been expecting a coil of rope to fall down from the high brick wall.
"Ouch! That's my foot!"
Light's head snapped up.
"Well, why don't you fucking move it, idiot!"
Hearing the harsh whispers clearly, Light watched as blue jean clad legs appeared over the wall.
What the hell?
The legs were quickly followed by a young teen in a stripped, long sleeved shirt with messy red hair. The boy scaled down the rope, and another teen about the same age threw themselves over the wall and scaled down with considerably more skill. This one, however, had shoulder length blonde hair and wore a black t-shirt and jeans.
Honestly, Light couldn't tell if the blonde was a girl or a boy.
"Grab the rope, Matt!" whispered the blonde.
The boy, who must have been Matt, nodded, pulling on the rope until it dropped down.
"We're not going to be gone too long, right? I'm on level 53 and -"
"Oh, shut up Matt. We won't stay out too late. You remember what happened last -"
The blonde broke off, finally turning and noticing Light.
Light cleared his throat. " I -"
"Who the fuck are you?!" screeched the blonde. The red head, Matt, quickly turned from where he was winding up the rope, and regarded Light in surprise.
Light took a step back, alarmed at the language of the small teen.
"What are you doing lurking around Whammy's?" asked Matt, adjusting a pair of ridiculous blue goggles on his head.
Light stopped himself from glaring at the youths, and instead tried to aim for politeness. He adopted a mild, yet charming mask he had used in the past to get the things he wanted or the information he needed. It had always worked best with females, he found.
"I'm here to see Roger Ruvie," said Light, his voice the epitome of politeness.
The two boys looked at each other, silently communicating.
"You are, huh?" asked the blonde, turning back to regard Light with a furrowed brow.
Light nodded, smiling slightly as he casually crossed his legs, leaning against the brick wall, and aiming for unintimidating.
"What for?" asked Matt, eyeing Light up and down.
"I'm a relative," said Light simply.
"Relative? I didn't know the old geezer had any family," said the blonde, his eyes alight with suspicion.
Light just gave the blonde a deadpanned look before smiling slightly. Well, neither did Light until his father had written the man's name down and given it to him.
The blonde scowled at Light's lack of verbal response. "And you can't figure out how to get in, can you?"
Light frowned. The kid was observant. "Yes, that's right."
Matt decided to speak up. "That's because they close the gates at five. You'd be out here until morning if we hadn't showed up, and it gets cold here at night."
The blonde nodded. "Yeah, real cold. You'll freeze your damn balls off."
Light stared at the blonde, taken back once again by the vulgarity used casually by someone so young. He had to remind himself that kids in England were different from kids in Japan.
"We can help you get in," chimed in Matt.
"But it'll cost you," countered the blonde.
Light frowned. What could these kids possibly want? "What will it cost me?"
"Got any money?" grinned Matt.
Two hours later, Light learned that the blonde was actually a boy named Mello who had a strong predilection towards cursing and chocolate. In fact, the whole reason that Mello and Matt were sneaking out of Whammy's House, which Light learned was actually an orphanage for gifted children that his relative was in charge of running, was because Mello had run out of chocolate. Matt, on the other hand, was particularly fond of video games, and kept his nose buried in his Gameboy Advance.
After buying the blonde a nice stash of chocolate, Matt had rounded on him.
"Now it's my turn!" he exclaimed, pausing his game.
Light cocked an eyebrow. He could just ditch the two kids and stay in a motel. The boys had proven that the walk to the nearby village wasn't that far, and he could just walk over in the morning, but something drew him to these two. They were eccentric, odd looking, sported addictive personalities to the weirdest things, and all in all they reminded him a bit of -
Oh, they reminded him of Lawli. That was it.
Light sighed. "Sure, kid. What do you want?"
Matt grinned. "Cigarettes."
"What?! How old are you anyways?!" yelled Light. The kid looked like he was thirteen at best.
Matt huffed. "Old enough."
Mello refrained from commenting. He was too busy gnawing on his chocolate bar.
"Oh, fine," gave in Light. Really, it wasn't his business if the kid wanted to kill himself slowly. Besides, Light had promised, well, more like been manipulated into buying stuff for the kids. He sort of admired their audacity when it came to manipulating a complete stranger.
Or maybe it was stupidity. He glared at the two from the corner of his eye before shrugging to himself.
After he had acquired a box of cigarettes for Matt, he sent them on their way.
"But aren't you coming back with us? We still need to hold up our end of the bargain," said Matt, fumbling with his new carton of cigarettes. They wouldn't fit in his pocket. Apparently his pockets were too full of who knows what.
Mello swallowed his chocolate before glaring at Light suspiciously. "Yeah, what gives? Why the hell did you buy us all this shit if you don't want us to get you in to see Roger?"
Light shrugged. "It's late. I don't want to just show up. That would be inconsiderate. I'll stay here in town and walk over in the morning."
"But why did you buy us all this shit?" repeated Mello, a suspicious glare marring his face.
"You both just . . . reminded me of someone. That's all," said Light, sticking to the truth.
"Who?" demanded Mello.
"You wouldn't know him," chuckled Light.
Mello rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Come on, Matt."
Matt waved half heartedly, his attention once again locked onto his Gameboy, as he was dragged away by Mello.
Light frowned after the two before shaking his head. He checked his wristwatch. It was getting late, and he needed to find a place to stay.
Tomorrow should prove to be interesting.
EDITED: 7-4-09
A/N: And there you have it folks! Now don't be shy! SAY SOMETHING!