Sol of Luna: Near and Far

Author: Gakusangi

Author's Notes and Acknowledgements:
RECAP – L returns to the Guild, forced to choose a new Guild Master to replace Roger. Matt takes a moment to help put his best friend, Mello, get in a better mood. Once Mello discovers that L has arrived, he takes off to meet him. Matt takes Near aside to buy Mello some time with his mentor. Near decides that he likes Matt. He sees that Matt has a 'quality'. We get a brief look into L's past, as he presents his plan to bring down Light Yagami before the Emperor. It appears to be a silent battle between the Emperor and the legendary Guildsman. Mello has a tearful confrontation with L, and finally gets some of the weight of Roger's death off his chest. Later, L sends a letter out to someone, his reasons remain a mystery, but what is known is the name…Naomi Misora.

This is a Death Note fan fiction. Many of the characters presented here are not mine, but the legal property of writer Tsugumi Ohba, and artist Takeshi Obata.

Chapter 10: Naomi Misora

Constable Naomi Misora was a young woman with an athletic build, and long, dark, silky hair. She wore a leather jacket, and a thin-bladed rapier rested threateningly at her left hip. She really didn't prefer to use the sword, even though she was quite good with it. It just wasn't her style. She was strong, both in body and mind. Her intellect was something to be marveled at, even among the greatest of minds. She had seen much in her time, more than most people anyway.

She stood with her partner, Raye Penber, a young man with black, shoulder length hair, and smooth, handsome features. The place was a small room at a local inn. The floor was stained red, as well as the sheets of the bed, and a small portion of the wall, just behind the headboard. The body had already been removed. The cause of death was obvious. Blunt-force trauma. The weapon was a small oil lamp, lying near the bed. Naomi walked to the other side of the room, getting a new perspective on the scene. Raye knelt down and checked under the bed for anything that could be of use to their investigation.

"I should have taken some vacation time." Naomi mumbled.

"You could still take some, Naomi." Raye piped in. "Waking up to a homicide isn't an indicator of a good day."

"Tell me about it." Naomi sighed. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Okay." Raye replied, still searching under the bed.

Naomi stepped out of the room and head down a small set of stairs. She crossed the tavern below, and pushed through a pair of swinging doors. The morning air was crisp, refreshing, and still damp with the morning dew. Everything had that blue sheen of early hours. Naomi took a deep breath to clear her aching head. She'd been a constable for six years now, and still she could never get used to the amount of violence the gripped the streets day by day. With each sunrise, there was a new corpse to be discovered, and killer to apprehend. These were the times they lived in. Just the other day, a woman had been stabbed to death while waking to the bakery. Surprisingly, there were no witnesses. It had been in the middle of the afternoon. They had concluded that the woman had crawled half a block before finally succumbing to her injuries.

Naomi sighed again. The city was unlike anyplace else. This was humanity in its rawest form. She should have been a poet with all she'd seen of human nature. That would have been an easy living. Sitting in comfortable armchair, next to a warm fire, writing whatever came out of her heart. Naomi closed her eyes, to picture the beautiful scene within her mind. Just then a boy came rushing up to her side, disrupting her thoughts.

"Naomi Misora?" The boy asked.

"Constable." Naomi said.

"What?" The boy asked in confusion.

"Constable Misora." Naomi replied.

The boy at first seemed flustered, but then his body took on a defensive posture.

"Oh, well the letter says, Naomi Misora." The boy said bitterly. "So I must be in the wrong place. You know where I might find her?"

Naomi snatched the pale envelope from the boy's hand, and tossed a few coins onto the ground, forcing the boy to kneel down in order to retrieve them.

"Pain in the ass." The boy mumbled under his breath.

Naomi chose to ignore the boy, and instead opened the envelope. She unfolded the sheet of paper inside, and began scanning the words written upon it. She froze, her breath caught in her throat. She reread the words. Just to be sure she had read them correctly. But they remained the same. She crumpled the letter, and tucked it in the pocket of her jacket. Just then Raye stepped out of the inn and came up beside her.

"Something wrong?" He asked her.

"Raye, can you handle this case on your own?" Naomi asked.

Raye seemed taken aback by this, but regained himself quickly.

"Uh, yeah, no problem." Raye said. "You decided to take some vacation time?"

"Yeah, I need a break." Naomi said walk past her partner. "I'll see you in couple of days."

"Alright, get some rest." Raye said to her retreating back into the inn.

Naomi doubted that she would. Not with what she had just read. She pulled out the letter again and read the signature at the bottom for the third time.

Sincerely, L

It couldn't be a prank. No one was stupid enough to just throw a name like that around. People had been killed under the suspicion that they were L. If he were to die, a lot of people would breath a silent sigh of relief. Crime and disloyalty would become more of a commonplace. Naomi and Raye would have even more bodies to process then already did. L was justice. L was peace. L was for Legend. Naomi replaced the letter back into her jacket pocket. It was going to be a long day, and an even longer trip.

(XXX)

Linda was painting in a large, circular chamber. It was located in the hall of heroes, and meant to be Roger's resting place among the Guild legends. Linda had taken it upon herself to paint a mural of his achievements. It was her way of getting closer. It was in her character. She was a talented artist after all. Nancy had been sure that Roger would have been honored to have Linda capture his greatest moments, and immortalize them with her remarkable artistic skills. He had always been fond of her work.

Linda worked her way around the chamber, her brush flowing delicately across the surface of the wall, which ringed around the rooms expanse. Her jacket was tied around her waits, her shirt was covered in paint smudges and splotches, and the tips of her fingers were stained with various colors. Every few minutes, she would step back, wipe the sweat from her brow, and look at her progress. She wasn't anywhere near finished yet, but she had plenty of time. There was a small, shuffling sound, and Linda turned towards its source. There stood Near, silent and staring, as usual. Linda offered him a smile.

"Hello, Near." Linda said warmly, and then she asked teasingly, "Isn't that a girl's shirt?"

Near looked down at his clothes. Sure, he already knew that it was Sayu's shirt. Her husband, Matsuda, had been too big for him to borrow clothes from. But the buttons were on the wrong side, a for sure indicator that it was indeed a woman's shirt. Near only curled a lock of his hair, the slight pinkish hue that rose in his cheeks was barely detectable. But Linda noticed. She fought back a giggle, returning to her painting with a big grin. Near couldn't place it, but there was something undeniably familiar about this girl. Her eyes were so like the boy's, the one from back in the courtyard. He began to wonder if they were related in some way. It seemed likely enough.

Near quietly came up beside Linda, and looked upon her work. She was very talented. The figures almost seemed real, the shading was expertly done, and colors blended perfectly. In this particular image, one of many scattered around the chamber, there was a young man with black, wide brimmed hat, and duster. He carried a shimmering, ivory handled revolver in each hand, and was currently firing a few rounds into what appeared to be a giant serpent rising out of a swampy lake. The serpent was missing its left eye, and the scarring around its empty socket indicated that it had most likely been done with a blade of some kind. But this injury was noticeably old, not recently inflicted. Near was impressed with the scene.

"Roger defeating the serpent of the lake." Linda murmured beside Near. "During his travels with Nancy and Quillsh. They made their way through the Grey Bogs, in order to speak with the Morgan. They came to a befouled lake, which was inhabited by an evil from the Old World. Roger shot it dead, but Nancy was poisoned."

Linda looked over at Near, his dark eyes seemed bottomless. Linda smiled gently.

"But as you can see, Nancy survived." Linda said. "They teach us a method of aging people on paper, so that we can picture what someone might look like when they get older. This helps us find marks with only older images of them for us to go off of. I just reversed the process in order to capture what they might have looked like when they were younger. I'll ask Nancy if I was accurate enough."

Near glanced over at another image. In this one, Roger was little more than a dark figure in the background. A man took up the foreground of the picture. He was in a grey outfit, similar to Roger's, and his face was hidden as he reeled back from a gunshot wound passing through his chest.

"Roger dueling the infamous outlaw, Ronald Brown." Linda said. "No one really knows what happened, and Roger never talked about it. But this is how I always pictured it, two gunfighters standing apart, with no one else around. Not a dueling for fame, but for honor, for what they felt was morally acceptable. It was the one achievement that Roger would never recount. It wasn't like the others. It was something personal to him."

Near nodded slowly, the only time he had ever really indicated that he was aware of someone talking to him, besides staring. Linda took it as a compliment. Her work could provoke a response, no matter how little it was. That said something. Linda turned back to her painting, humming quietly to herself. She was in a much better mood than she had been.

"Do they teach art up at the palace?" Linda asked.

There was a moment of silence. Linda looked back, but Near wasn't standing there anymore. She was alone in the chamber once again. She shrugged and went back to work. The picture she was working on at the moment depicted Roger, Nancy and Quillsh all standing together, young and on top of the world that they themselves had helped mold. It was powerful image, of a time that had passed long ago. A time when heroes like L were in abundance and people could still remember what it felt like to be part of a significant era, a turning point in history.

(XXX)

"So this is what you do?" Naomi said, and the edge of her bitter tone didn't go unnoticed. "Clean up the Guild's mistakes?"

"My mistakes." Rue corrected quietly.

"Do you realize what you've done?" Naomi asked, whirling on him. "You've shattered his mind! He's snapped under the pressure of living up to your standards! You made a monster!"

"He was well on his way to becoming a monster when I found him." Rue replied, walking past her without looking at her. "I just slowed it down. Probably saved hundreds of innocent lives…but he was going over no matter what I did."

"So you were convinced that it would end like this?" Naomi asked in shocked disbelief. "You still used him, even though you thought it would turn out this way?"

Rue stopped, turning slowly to face her. He seemed different, somehow darker, and maybe even sad. His dark eyes were like two bottomless pools of black water. They were unreadable, and yet somehow entirely exposed, overflowing with sorrow. She couldn't have found the words to describe it, and was put into shocked silence.

"Ryuzaki…B was here for someone else's benefit." Rue explained. "Another of my…protégés needed companionship. I provided it. I made it compatible. But when he died, B was left all alone. He couldn't stand the loneliness, and so he found an outlet for his grief."

Naomi remained silent, understanding sinking in with each word Rue spoke. He did regret it, he regretted every moment of it. The weight of his guilt pressed heavily upon his shoulders, hunching his posture. His victory over the one person who had been close to him, had left a bitter taste in his mouth, that he would seek to sweeten with anything he could find, just the stay its tartness. In that moment, looking into his wounded, dead eyes, Naomi pitied the man everyone had come to know as 'Legend'.

"It was never the pressure." Rue went on. "It was fixation, maybe even affection, that drove him mad in the end…It was love. I'm certain of that."

"Love?" Naomi repeated slowly, almost frightfully.

"A doubled-edged sword," Rue replied, "With my prized student on one side, and…regrettably, myself on the other."

"You?" Naomi breathed.

"I don't pretend not to see what's happening around me." Rue said grimly. "I need that alertness to stay alive. I don't fail to notice obsession. One only planned to become my successor. B wanted to be me. He wanted more than just the legacy, or the title. He wanted it all, the identity, the very thing that makes me who I am. He was my doppelganger…or least he had planned to be."

"Then he wanted to surpass you." Naomi said, and her tone was just as dark.

"He couldn't completely copy me, and therefore could not become me, as he had hoped." Rue responded. "He couldn't meet me on the same battlefield, and so he sought to change it, to tip the scales in his favor, by attacking from a different angle."

"To become your greatest foe, rather than your double." Naomi finished.

Rue nodded slowly in agreement. Naomi regarded him for a moment. She had, in the past few hours, learned more about the 'Legend' than anyone else ever had. Didn't he think it was dangerous? Isn't this why he hid behind his own legend, his badge, his title? Wasn't this why he had used her as his shield, his avatar, during the course of this investigation? Why would he make himself vulnerable now?

"I know you." Naomi stated flatly.

So few words that said so much.

"That's dangerous, isn't it?" Naomi continued. "For both of us…right?"

"I'd like to think that I have nothing to fear of you." Rue replied. "And so long as I draw breath, you will be protected from forces that would harm you for what you now know of me."

Naomi found a strange sense of comfort in this. But this too was a double-edged sword. She would be guarded, but that also meant that she would be monitored. She was able to move about freely, but she was caged nonetheless. And worst of all, she didn't have say in it either way. Rue had trapped her. But she found herself longing in her imprisonment. Was she longing for him? Was that possible?

"Come with me." Rue said, holding out his hand.

Naomi stared at it for a moment, unable to fully comprehend what he was offering. She looked to him questioningly.

"Come with you?" Naomi repeated.

"Come back with me." Rue said. "You are more than capable. You have impressed me, and even saved me. Come with me, Naomi Misora. This is a great opportunity for you. One that many people would not be offered."

Naomi thought for a moment. She could go with him, become a guild member, and work alone side the greatest Guildsman to have ever lived…and then what? Fall into his program? Follow in his footsteps…become his successor even? Naomi shook her head.

"I can't." Naomi said quietly. "It wouldn't be appropriate."

Rue lowered his hand, his lifeless eyes locked with hers.

"…I understand." Rue said sadly.

He turned and left then, leaving her standing alone at the base of the clock tower. A deep roll of thunder echoed off the brick walls and cobble stone streets. The rain followed shortly after. It started light, and then become a steady downpour in heavy, damp sheets. Naomi stood there, the cold rainwater permeating her clothes. He was gone, vanished without a trace, lost in the swirling crowds of eager onlookers. Perhaps never to be seen again. Not by her anyway. Naomi closed up her jacket to block out the cold wind that coiled through the air. She turned a left. Her job was complete, and her presence was no longer required. She would return home. She would return to being a constable. She had made her decision.

(XXX)

It was raining again, a downpour, just as it had been the first time she'd met him. The last time she had seen him. L was for Legend. Only he had called himself Rue. Rue Ryuzaki. He had taken the alias, won it from the mass murderer, his equal, his worthy foe, and the one he could not bring himself to kill. The mistake he had hidden away. Locked up, never to be released, but still alive, alive because he could not kill him, the second closest thing he had ever had to a successor. Perhaps he had been more, a brother, a son…a lover even? Naomi wouldn't have been surprised. How sad that day had been, for all three of them. They had been victims of their own gifts, their curses. The cruel hand of fate had played its cards, their cards. The heavens mocked them in their suffering. Naomi had hoped to leave it all far behind, to make it just another part of her past, and nothing more.

But here she was, in a windowless carriage, being pulled to places unknown, all because of the letter. Not even a letter, but a name, signed at the bottom. I single character with such magnetism that it had pulled her away from her life, and all the way out here. L, the legend, had called for her…and she had answered. The raindrops hammered on the canvas roof above her head, like droplets of lead. The driver pressed forward, unyielding in their pace. It was the fifth day of her journey, after receiving the letter on the street corner, just outside a murder scene. It wasn't until shortly after she had just left that she began to wonder how he had known exactly where to find her. But that was L for you, a man of mystery and intrigue. He was a man with resources that could not be counted in their number, or measured in their quality.

Naomi yawned, and stretched her arms. She couldn't take much more of this. Her body ached from sitting in the same position for so long, and her head was dizzy from the absence of sleep. She began to wonder why she had so readily come here. He had once offered his hand to her, presenting an opportunity that could not be topped or even matched by any other. But she had turned it down. She had let him go. So why did she make the effort now? What was different?

The answer was as simple as it was frustrating. Time. Time had changed her. Time had shown her much in the years that followed their encounter. It had been cruel in its lessons, and Naomi was sick of the decay she witnessed day by day. She had seen, first hand, what humanity was capable of, and it had deadened her, threatened to drown her. But now there was hope. Now, a lifeline had been thrown out into the seas of darkness. And she had grabbed hold of it.

The carriage came to a stop, bringing her out of her thoughts and back into reality. They had arrived. Naomi looked down at her compass. As she had predicted, it continued to spin aimlessly before her eyes. Either they had rigged the carriage with magnetic material, or some kind of magic was at work. Naomi seriously doubted the latter theory. She had never once witnessed anything that could qualify as magic, or a miracle. Like many, she was a skeptic when it came to the subject. She had been taught to see things as they were, to accept only the facts. That is what makes a good constable, a clear, unfiltered head. The driver opened the door and Naomi stepped out.

The cold, damp air cleared Naomi's sleep deprived mind. She closed her jacket tightly about her, and made for the large stone structure just ahead. To her, it resembled a giant cathedral, completely with stain glass windows. Naomi took a deep breath to collect herself, though her lungs could not completely fill because of the cold that constricted her chest. She let it out, warm and calming, a small plume of steam issuing from between her lips. Then she made for the great double doors. She knocked three times, loudly so that no one would fail to notice her presence. Almost immediately, the door opened a crack, and an elderly woman with glasses poked her head out.

"Yes?" The woman asked.

"Naomi – Constable Naomi Misora," Naomi announced, "I was summoned."

She pulled out the letter, and handed it over to the woman, who looked at it suspiciously. After a moment, the woman nodded slowly, and opened the door wider to admit Naomi. She was in. But what was she in for?

(XXX)

Near and been sitting in the chair across from the man for nearly an hour now. Not a word had been shared between the two. Near sat with his left leg drawn up to his chest, his left hand resting on the knee. His right hand was busy curling his hair round his fingers. The man across from him sat in a very unusual manner, squat with his feet the only things making contact with the cushion, and both hands resting on his knees. Near's eyes wandered slowly over the rest of the room. In reality, he was doing all he could to avoid the man's intense gaze. His eyes were so deep, and black, lifeless like his own…like his fathers eyes. They made him uncomfortable.

L regarded the boy across from him. He could see the similarities that Nancy had spoken of, he and the boy were quite alike in some instances. And having met the Emperor once before, L was pretty certain that this boy was indeed related to him in some way. But still, he wished that the boy would say something. L had already tried to spark a conversation a few times, but the boy had only curled his hair. L had noticed that the boy was avoiding eye contact, but this wasn't anything new. Most people found it difficult to meet him eye to eye. But still, he found himself a little frustrated by the lack of interaction, though visibly he refused to show it.

L lowered himself onto the cushion, allowing his right leg to fall and make contact with the ground. His he began to curl his own hair with his right had. Now he was stilling identical to the boy across from him. Near looked at him then, seeing what he had done. More silence. L could have sworn a puzzled expression briefly crossed the boy's features. But if it had, it was gone in an instant. Then the white haired boy did something that drew L's full attention. He pulled his right leg up, and placed it flat on the cushion, taking his right hand from his hair, and resting it on his right knee. The boy now sat in L's usual squat position, looking intensely at the man across from him.

A small smile crossed L's face. He couldn't help it.

"You want to get out of here?" L asked.

The boy nodded silently. L rose and offered his hand. Near took the man's hand and allowed L to help him out of the chair. Together, they walked out of the room, their hands still locked together.

(XXX)

Naomi had just finished taking a bath, and throwing on some clean, dry clothes. The older woman had provided both. Naomi didn't mind waiting. It gave her time to think about what she was going to say, and what he might say to her. She had been plunged into all this so fast that she hadn't had a moment to think clearly. In a moment, she would be face to face with L, a person she had met once before, but had never expected to see again. It was a bit overwhelming, but Naomi strived under that kind of pressure. Her work as a constable, with everyone working together as a team, had been awkward for her. She was a loner by nature. So was he. That was why they could work together so well. It was kind of a paradox.

Naomi was left to wander around until someone informed her that L was no longer busy. The guildhalls were magnificent, every brick masterfully crafted, and expertly placed. Banners hung from the ceiling, torches lighting the halls. It was everything she would have expected, only so much more beautiful than she could have ever imagined. Night had fallen silently over the Guild, and there was no one else about, leaving Naomi undistracted. She stepped out into a large courtyard, with three magnificent fountains and various statues. She wondered why the ground was littered with bits and stone, but dismissed the observation almost as suddenly as it had come.

She crossed the courtyard and entered another corridor. This area had various portraits lining the walls, and Naomi stopped to inspect them. They were obviously of former, or even current, guild members. Each picture was so exquisitely perfect, that it almost seemed as though the persons portrayed in them might suddenly begin to move. Naomi was drawn out of her thoughts by the sense that someone was approaching quickly behind her. Just as she was about to turn, she saw arms come into her periphery, and begin to close about her.

Instinctively, Naomi leaned forward, setting both hands on the ground, and kicked out with her right leg. The full force of her kick caught her assailant in his solar plexus and sent him reeling back. As Naomi rose, she turned to face her attacker. Then she gasped with sudden surprise.

(XXX)

L and Near stood at the edge of cliff overlooking the ocean below. In the silvery glow of the moon the waves crashed majestically against the rocks, raising a sound akin to thunder. The stars reflected off the crystalline surface of the water, mirroring the night sky. It was one of the most beautiful scenes the boy had ever witnessed. L thought so too.

"I come here often." L said to the boy standing silently beside him. "More so when I was young, but I still find a measure of peace here."

There was a silence, but not empty and cold, a very comfortable silence. L sighed.

"I can't make any decisions for you." L said sadly. "I wish I could do more, but it's not in my power. Even I have my limits."

The white haired boy curled a lock around his finger.

"I also can't ensure your safety here." L went on regretfully. "I can't risk putting the Guild in danger…I have to send you away from this place."

The boy remained silent, but his posture told L of his disappointment.

"I know someone who could help, but I can't offer any guarantees." L said.

"L, a Naomi Misora is here to see you." The voice belonged to Nancy, and it drifted from behind them.

L turned and faced the older guildswoman.

"Thank you, Nancy." L said gently.

He offered one last glance at Near. Near was busy looking out over the ocean again, caught by its beauty. L patted the boy on the shoulder, and then turned to leave. Things had gotten much more complicated in a much too short period of time. L was troubled. When L was troubled, the world was likely to be troubled as well.

(XXX)

L entered the guildhalls, stretching his aching muscles as he passed through the corridor. It didn't take him long to woman standing near the stairs. She had long dark hair, falling behind her shoulders, and fair skin. She had an athletic build, and a commanding presence. L was suddenly filled with a sense of calm, maybe even joy, when his eyes fell on her. He ran forward, opening his arms to embrace her. Naomi sensed that someone was approaching quickly behind her. Just as she was about to turn, she saw arms come into her periphery, and begin to close about her. Instinctively, Naomi leaned forward, setting both hands on the ground, and kicked out with her right leg.

The full force of her kick caught L in his solar plexus and sent him reeling back. As Naomi rose, she turned to face her attacker. Then she gasped with sudden surprise. L pin-wheeled his arms in a futile attempt to maintain his balance, but he was soon rolling down the steps behind him, crashing mercilessly down the stairs. He lay face down at the bottom of the stairs, motionless. Naomi rushed down, cursing under her breath. When she caught up with him, L lifted his head.

"I've got to get the hang of that." L mumbled to himself.

"That's the second time I've done that." Naomi muttered, helping L to his feet.

To Be Continued…

Author's Comments

Sorry this took me so long. I rewrote it three times, because I wasn't satisfied with it, and then the other night I decided to get drunk and didn't write anything. Sorry. I'm still not entirely happy with this chapter. I promise that the next one is the last non-action oriented chapter. I know this is starting to get a little boring.